The New Student
by KurohNeko69
Summary: A new student enrolls in Westen College, she is very smart, and Ciel keeps a close eye on her. Sebastian and Ciel both think she is a great asset in solving cases for the Queen, but Ciel isn't the only one who finds interest in this girl. Will a demon get in the way of Ciel's plans?
1. Chapter 1

Hi there! This is my first fanfic, I apologize for any errors, I'm pretty sure that there shouldn't be any though. I **DO NOT** own Kuroshitsuji, but I **DO** own my OC.

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**The New Student:**

Ch.1

"Professor Michaelis! Professor! Huh?" I yelled as I ran through the hall.

"Sebastian have you gotten the information yet?" Ciel said.

_That sounds like Ciel's voice!_ _I wonder why he would be talking to Professor like that? _

"Not yet Young Master, I am terribly sorry for the wait. I am not sure when I'll have it."

Professor Michaelis replied.

"Well that's just too bad. I guess I'm going to have to punish you for that Sebastian." Ciel said his voice filled with amusement.

"Do as you wish Young Master." Professor Michaelis said flatly.

_What's going on!? _

"SEBASTIAN I ORDER YOU-" The door I was leaning against flew open and I fell in.

"Ow ow ow, u-uh I'm so sorry for the intrusion! I-I didn't mean to barge in all of a sudden. I'll just leave now!" I said in a panic, getting to my feet.

"Oh that's no problem at all, Mr. Phantomhive and I were just about finished. Who might you be Young Lady? Are you hurt from that fall?" Professor Michaelis asked.

"I-I'm fine thanks, my name is Clarissa, I was looking for the Violet Wolf Dormitory, so I was going to ask you for the directions." I managed to say.

"I'd be glad to, sadly I can't with all of my students who come to get tutored, but I'm sure Mr. Phantomhive would be delighted to show you the way." Professor Michaelis said smirking slightly.

"I guess it can't be helped, I'll show you the way." Ciel said with a sigh.

"Oh, um, thanks Ciel." I murmured loud enough to be heard.

"Oh, you know each other?" Professor Michaelis asked.

"Oh, yeah, he and I are in the same classes, but we don't talk much." I said.

"Mr. Phantomhive, that is no proper way to treat a lady, well now I have things to attend to, so I'll be off." Professor Michaelis said.

_I wonder what that was all about though? Oh yeah that's right I need to talk to Bluer before going to the Violet Wolf Dormitory._

"Um Ciel can we actually stop by the Sapphire Owl Dormitory first?" I asked heading out the door.

"Huh? Oh sure." He replied following me out.

Hmm Ciel seems distracted by something, I wonder what it is? Maybe I should ask, but I don't know if I should. He always seemed to keep to himself.

"Hey Ciel, is something bothering you?" I asked to see if I could cheer him up.

"No it's nothing really, so what is it that you needed to do in the Violet Wolf Dormitory? Aren't you in the Sapphire Owl Dormitory?" he asked.

"Oh yeah I'm moving dorms, my classes will be the same, so I'm not sure why I need to transfer. Anyway I'll be attending to the Violet Wolf Dormitory. So I'm afraid we won't be able to talk much anymore." I said.

"W-wait what?!" Ciel asked surprised.

"Is something wrong?" I asked at the sudden outburst.

"Oh, um no, it's nothing, I just got a little surprised that's all." Ciel muttered.

"Hey Ciel, there were some rumors going around about your status. Some students are talking about how you work for the Queen, like her guard or something. Is that true? I mean, it isn't any of my business, but I just wanted to see if it were true." I whispered as we passed a group of people, I didn't want anyone else to hear of course.

Right then and there I saw Ciel's expression change so quickly it gave me chills. The expression he wore for that split second, told me that I had definitely said something that wasn't worth putting my nose into.

"U-Uhh never mind it's none of my business anyway, oh uh what are you planning on doing before we go on winter break?" In a flash I found myself pinned against a tree, with Ciel restraining my arms.

"How much do you know about me? Really know?" Ciel said his voice low.

The way he looked at me was unexplainable, his eyes were filled with rage and also something else, sadness, and despair. Before I knew it he let go, I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything, instead my legs gave out from under me, and I found myself unable to say anything.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you." he said as he extended a hand to help me up.

I slapped it away, without thinking I ran off. I didn't know how to handle that situation, but my biggest mistake was never turning to look back.

"You know, you could've handled that a lot smoother." Sebastian said from behind a bush.

"Sebastian!? When did you get here?!" Ciel asked surprised.

"What do you mean? I was here the whole time. Now lets discuss about that young girl, I know she'll be an important resource, I think she wants to talk to you but just doesn't know how to approach you. Like I said she is an excellent resource to finding Derrick since you two are still in the same dormitory I don't see anything bad in you helping her move into the Violet Wolf Dorms. It'll give you a chance to have someone on the inside." Sebastian said with a smirk.

"I guess so, I just have to find a way to talk to her, the problem is, can we really trust her with this sort of task?" Ciel asked contemplating on what to do.

"Obviously, This girl is interesting, she also finds interest in you since she remembers your name more than her way around the campus." Sebastian said.

"Come to think of it she is also one of the top in the school, majoring in science, math, and detective work." Sebastian continued.

"Is that so?" Ciel said with a smile.

"If that's the case then she will be the finest resource there is. But if that is true wouldn't she fit in the same dorm as me instead of the Violet Wolf dorms? Well, I guess that there is some purpose for that, and since she is transferring, it does give me an advantage."

"I really wish I could apologize, but what would I be apologizing for? I dunno but today it'll all be over with. After all vacation is starting tomorrow." I said sighing to myself as I walked into the dorm to see Professor Michaelis, he looked like he was waiting for someone.

"Hey, Professor." I said hesitantly.

"Ah, Clarissa, one of the Prefects' fag has requested to speak with you." he said with a kind smile.

"Why me?" I asked.

"I'm not quite sure but they said it's urgent." Professor Michaelis said.

_I wonder who, it is, I guess I'll have to find out for myself._

"I'll see to it right away!" I said as I ran off.

"Sorry if you had been waiting it took me a while to get my transfer script-Ciel, what are you doing here?!" I said shocked.

"Glad to see you Clarissa. I just wanted to apologize for earlier and I wanted to see if I could be of any help." Ciel said.

"Oh, w-well I'd like to apologize as well, and what is it that you'd like to be of use of?" I asked.

"Anything really, how about helping you move dorms, since you're still new I could help you around campus." he said with a smile.

"S-sure thank you very much, u-um I'll meet you around 6?" I asked.

"Alright. See you then." he said before leaving.

What I wondered for the rest of the day was what he was up to, and why? I got up from my last class and headed for the dorms.

_Ciel is acting very strange now that I told him about the transfer and I sense a sort of connection between him and Prof. Michaelis._

So many things were clashing with each other in my head I lost track of where I was going.

"Huh?….Where am I?"

Looking in all directions, I seemed to be engulfed by trees and darkness.

It couldn't have gotten this late! Where am I, am I even still on campus?!

"Hello! Is anyone out here!? Hello!"

What time is it? Where am I? How do I find my way back?!

"Hello! Can anyone hear me! He-"

I was cut off when I crashed into something. I couldn't see anything, but all I knew was that I fell on some hard and it scratched me.

"Ouch! What was that?" I heard a muffled sound.

"W-who's there?!"

What's going on? Who else is here? What did I bump into?

"Who else is here!" I yelled in the silence.

"Ouch. Hey are you okay?" an unfamiliar voice asked.

"Yeah I'm fine, who are you, and might I ask how you got here?" I asked the stranger.

"Ah, you're new here aren't you? I'm Derrick, I am from the Scarlet Fox dorm." The strange person replied.

"So how exactly did you know I was new here?" I asked.

"Well that wasn't hard to figure out." he started,

"There are only a handful of girls attending here and you aren't such a familiar face either, also I suggest you stay away from that Phantomhive boy."

_How does he know about that? _

"Why would you say that? Also, how do you know what I look like if it's pitch black here?"

Suddenly I felt a dizziness overcome me. I felt light-headed, it was like the dark of the night had engulfed me in its shade and I felt a tight hold around my neck, someone had grabbed me from behind, I couldn't break the hold and with every breath I took the deeper I began to fall helplessly asleep.

"Hey, are you awake yet?"

A familiar voice said. It was very familiar, but I just couldn't make it out just right. My eyes fluttered open but my vision was clouded.

"Oh good you're awake, are you feeling alright?"

My eyes slowly came into focus, and I started to wonder if I were in whatever place I was last night or in my room. I wasn't so sure but I didn't care so much of that, there was this pained throbbing in my head that wouldn't let me think straight.

"Yeah my head just hurts a bit-" I shot straight up on the bed

"Ciel!?"

He then grabbed my shoulders and pinned me back down on the bed.

"You really shouldn't move so suddenly when you're injured, you should know that."

His grasp was tight, forceful but painless, his cold palms rested on top of my shoulders as he reached for a thermometer.

"Where am I?" I asked sluggishly

"On my bed." Ciel replied with a teasing in his voice.

"I know that obviously! I want to know where I am!" I said impatiently

"Alright alright." he said with a chuckle

"You're in my room, inside the Sapphire Owl dorm."

I felt my face getting hot which did not help as he put the thermometer in my mouth.

"Why am I here?" I asked.

My words came out as a mumble since there was an object in my mouth making it hard to speak.

"When I noticed that you still hadn't come to meet with me, it had been already 9 then I decided to look for you."

That's right! I never met up with him, but how long was I out and when did he get there?

"I heard something in the nearby forest where the Scarlet Fox dorms were located, I saw something come out, but the figure disappeared before I could make out what it was. I wondered what it was doing in the woods so late at night so I just decided to investigate the matter, and that's when I found you on the ground. You had scrapes, and cuts I didn't know what to do at first, but I came to my senses afterwards. So I brought you back here, I didn't really have a choice you're room isn't ready at the Violet wolf dorm, and I would've been punished if I dare enter the girl's dorm."

Wow I guess I hadn't been paying much attention to myself to realize the many cuts and scrapes I had on my arms, legs, and face. Nor did I realize the bandage wrapped around my head either.

"Wow"

I didn't know what else to say but that. There was a soft beeping noise coming from the thermometer.

"Ah, let me take that….103 degrees!? I'm pretty sure that's not normal!"

Ciel for the first time ever looked panicked, worry filled his eyes.

"I'm going to go get Sebastian! Wait here and don't move until I get back!" and with that he ran out of the room. I felt a pain shoot up my neck and made my head hurt even more.

"AH!" I screamed.

This was the first time something like this happened to me, I didn't know any other way to react.

"OW! Help! Please! Stop this! AHH!"

The pain wouldn't stop if anything it would get more and more painful. It was a mixture of stabbing and being burned all over my body, it hurt so much tears welled up in my eyes I was writhing in pain but I couldn't move, my legs and arms were stiff from the wounds, but the tears wouldn't stop flowing. My head was throbbing, my body ached, and finally the pain silenced. Before the pain came back I decided to get up I was soaked with sweat from the fever and my body ached everywhere.

"I guess I should go wash up or something I just need to clear my head. I think that was just because of the fever, I should really cool off before that happens again."

I noticed most of my stuff had already been in Ciel's room since he asked to help me move so I could get changed, my uniform as it is was covered in dirt and dry blood.

"It should, be, a while before he gets back."

The cold water felt nice and cooled me off quite a bit, it just stung a bit as I cleaned my cuts and scrapes. I changed into a t-shirt and some shorts, after all we were having a four week vacation that should have started yesterday, so most people should've gone home already. I was planning on moving into the Violet Wolf dorm over the vacation, since none of my relatives were alive anymore. I started to dry my hair and laid back down onto the bed, and looked at the clock.

2:00 p.m. how long was I out? Did Ciel stay up this whole time? Come to think about he did look more exhausted than usual.

I heard footsteps coming closer and closer, then the door unlock and burst open. "Clarissa! Are you okay?!" Ciel shouted way more than needed.

"Yep, you don't have to address me so formally, just call me Clary." I answered so casually just to tease him a little

"So what was the big emergency you were talking about Ciel?" Professor Michaelis asked.

He was wearing a black long sleeve shirt and dark blue jeans. I guess he was going to leave for vacation too, I wonder if Ciel was too. I couldn't tell he was still wearing his uniform which was also covered in dirt and dry blood. I guess I really troubled him huh? I really should apologize especially with the way I was acting earlier.

"Good afterno-"

I said right before another pain struck me, and I gasped for air.

"Cl-Clarissa?! What's the matter?" Mr. Michaelis asked with astonishment in his voice that that happened so suddenly and without notice.

I gripped onto the corner of my shirt and fisted it, I fell to my knees and curled up on my side. The pain was back and as lethal as before, this time it was on the left side of me and made it very hard to breath I was gasping for air, but every time I breathed any sort of air in, it felt like needles were puncturing my throat and chest.

"he-lp, me, pl-ease" I said between breaths

"it, hurts." I managed to say before I passed out once again.

I woke up after what seemed like seconds after and a moist towel was on my forehead.

"Are you okay?" Prof. Michaelis asked

"Of course she isn't Sebastian! Just look at her!" screamed Ciel.

"Se-bas-tian?" I said faintly but loud enough for them to hear.

"Yes that is my name, Sebastian Michaelis" he said with a chuckle.

"Now about that fever of yours-"

"It seems to have gone down by the looks of it" interrupted Ciel.

"After I left the room what happened? I thought I heard you scream." asked Ciel

"Oh, Yeah that thing that just happened right now happened earlier too, I didn't know what to do so I thought a cold shower would help, obviously that didn't work so well now did it?"

Ciel started to blush lightly, and Sebastian noticed that and it looked as if he wanted to point it out but instead didn't.

"Do you have any family to stay with over the vacation?" Sebastian asked.

I paused for a second and put my head down so they wouldn't see my face.

"Yeah, I've got some." I murmured.

Ciel tilted his head down, he looked a little uneasy. I saw that something was bothering him so I put my head back up and put on a bright smile to convince them. I looked at the clock it was now 2:37 p.m. and dark clouds were forming it looked as gloomy as I felt.

"Thank you very much for your hospitality I'm sorry if I've troubled you."

"No problem I'm glad you're alright have a safe trip" Ciel said.

I packed up some clothes and took an umbrella and walked out of the room.

"See you later!"

I didn't look back and as I got outside it was pouring.

Great.

It was cold already the last thing I needed was rain, but it was the perfect setting to mask my tears as they fell down my face and onto the floor.

I should've said that I was going to stay on campus for the vacation, it's winter for Christ's sake! Where am I supposed to go!?

I kept thinking of a plan as I headed for the bus stop.

Well I guess I could stay at a hotel for the time being, but I don't have enough money for 4 weeks. I think I'm getting a cold too. Geez what should I do, I couldn't possibly ask Ciel if I could've stayed with him, come to think of it, I don't even know if he was staying or not.

I started to run back to the school as fast as I could the raindrops hitting my face as I ran. I burst through the door to his room, only to find it empty, I went all the way back down and sat under the gazebo where the prefects would gather and cried until I fell asleep.

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Thanks for reading there is a lot more to come! Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

**Ch.2**

"Something is still bothering me." said Ciel.

"What's troubling you?" asked Sebastian.

"I haven't learned much about Clary, but I do know that she has no family with her, but why would she lie to us?"

Sebastian looked at his young master puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

"I know for a fact that she has no relatives, and both her parents are dead. I still don't know how exactly they died, but they have not been alive for quite some time."

"Then how did she get here?" asked Sebastian

"The Queen. So that's what those students were talking about!"

Sebastian was clicking these puzzle pieces into his head and then realized.

"No wonder she is alone most of the time, she doesn't talk to any other students, or rather they don't talk to her, she doesn't know her way around school because she doesn't ask people, she doesn't know how to handle situations with others or how to interact with them. She's been alone most of her life, she's a very intelligent girl, and the Queen must have seen some potential in her and sent her here. The other students envy her for that reason." said Ciel concluding this case.

"Well I guess all that's left to know is why she lied about her family and where she is right now." said Sebastian.

Ciel's eyes widened, and his hands stiffened.

She smiled, she smiled even though we had said something so horrible without even noticing. Even I would've avoided the topic like a coward, but she, not only did she lie, she smiled. I don't know how a person smile who's been through something like that fake a smile to look so real. I've had experience, but people could see through my smiles as if they were transparent.

"I guess, a smile can hide anything now can it." Ciel said.

"So then how should we treat this problem? I'm sure she has no place to stay so she must've gone to a hotel. Should we go find her?" Sebastian asked.

"I doubt that she'll be in any hotel my best bet is she went back to the campus after we left." Ciel said.

"I would offer her a place to stay but, she can't know that you're my butler, no, she can't know what you really are, so how should we go about this predicament?" Ciel went on.

"Why don't you go find her and I'll think of something as you get back?" asked Sebastian.

"At this rate she could be anywhere! Jeez I guess I'll go." sighed Ciel.

I felt the cold breeze against my bare arms, and woke up to find myself still lying on the bench of the gazebo. The night had already set in, and the moon was full and bright. Despite the temperature it was a very beautiful setting, drops of water had been falling from the gazebo's roof. My clothes had been soaked as well.

Damn, if I stay like this I'll catch a cold.

I still didn't know my way aroung campus and I'm sure everyone had left by now, luckily I had my own key to my dorm, so I could stay there for the vacation. I began to sneeze and shiver.

"Damnit, at this rate I'm going to get sick before I even reach the dorms!" I muttered as I kept sneezing.

I still don't know exactly why I lied to them. They went out of their way to help me, and I lied to them. I'm surprised I was able to smile so brightly back there, even though it was just an illusion, I was starting to believe it myself. Heh, well I'm used to things like this so it shouldn't be any different.

It started to rain once again, all I had was my t-shirt and shorts, I forgot my umbrella as I rushed back here, how stupid of me, it soon turned from rain to a shower. I was in the front of the Sapphire Owl dorm when I finally realized, that I had been crying. The rain masked my tears, and my façade had covered up any emotion I felt, but the face in front of me seemed to break through my façade, he was able to see behind that smile I've had on for these years. He was the only one who had gone through as many, no, much more loss than I ever will. He is Ciel Phantomhive.

"Ciel?"

I managed to say between sniffles

"Why are you here?"

I felt the hot drops of tears running down my cheeks as I stared at the blunette on the steps of the Sapphire Owl dorm.

"I came to get you." he said.

What. Why would he have come here. I don't understand why he would go through all this trouble for me. What benefit would he possibly get from me?

"I suggest you stay away from that Phantomhive boy."

Who told me that again? I vaguely remember, but, why am I remembering that of all things.

"Well, are you coming or not, Clary?" he asked without any sign of expression at all.

"Why?" I managed to mumble under my breath.

"What's the matter?" Ciel asked.

"I just came to pick something up that's all, you needn't worry about me." I said with a tinge of despair in my voice.

Damn I can't control my voice!

"Is that so?" Ciel said with a smirk creeping up his face.

"Where exactly will you be staying then, with you're parents, relatives?"

I felt a pain stab my chest as each one of those words crept out of his mouth.

Ciel, please just leave already. I don't know how much more I can take. I know I said I was used to things like this, but, I can't handle all of these feelings. Sadness, anger, despair, loneliness, not being wanted, or needed. Just stop and leave!

"I don't need to answer such ridiculus questions. If you would please move out of my way." I managed to say with a steady voice.

"A smile can hide almost anything, don't you agree?" he started

"I would just like to know why, why did you lie about having a place to stay? I know none of your relatives are alive. I know how you got here, what I want to know is why you lied."

"I-I"

What do I tell him?

"I just want my life to be the way it is, nothing more. Obviously it isn't possible to be normal now is it?"

"Well, you can't be normal, that's for sure, but you can make you're life better, you can pursue your family's murders, and find out why this had happened to you of all people" he started again.

"How would you like to make a contract?" Ciel continued.

"A _contract? _A better question is how do you know my family was murdered!?"

Suddenly Ciel started to change his shape, morphing into something, no someone else. It was a different person

"H-How did you do that? Who are you? What are you?" I asked, still startled by the stranger who was in front of me.

"Well how about I jog your memory a bit, does the name '_Derrick_' ring a bell? You needn't worry about the rest, anyhow, back to my previous question, would you like to make a contract?"

"What I would like, is to know _what_ you are, what a contract is, and why you came to me." I said with a serious tone that seemed to surprise, yet amuse Derrick.

"Well you see, I am not a _human_, but that doesn't make us so different. A contract, is basically what it sounds like, we make an agreement to something and you just have to commit to that. I did not _have_ to choose you, but you seemed, _interesting_ which is why I came to you, you see, you are something special in comparison to others."

If he isn't human then what is he? He wasn't very clear when explaining what a contract was, and what makes me special?

"Sorry, but I have to decline your offer" This seemed to strike Derrick in surprise

"I find no interest in finding the one behind the murders, and I most definitely do not find any interest in trusting someone who claims to not be human. Now if you please, I'd like to go inside instead of stay outside in damp clothes and get a cold." I said and sneezed.

To my surprise Derrick moved out of the way, but stopped me as I was turning the lock.

"You do realize, that I will not let my prey slip away so easily. I know when someone is lying, and you my dear, are quite the storyteller. You say you find no interest, when you major in all the factors you need to find the killer on your own. I know that my offer interests you, so when you are ready I'll be here"

Derrick said with a smirk.

How does he know all of this, who is he? Maybe I should just go along until I find out.

"Fine. Just tell me what you are and I'll take your offer into consideration" I managed to say between shivers.

"I, am a demon."

A Demon? You've got to be kidding me! What kind of fool does he take me for!?

"I-If what you are saying is true, you are going to have to show me some proof. You can't expect a person lurking in the shadows to gain my trust so easily."

Derrick smirked , like if he were expecting that response from me. He took his hand out of his pocket and stepped out toward the moonlight. He was pale as snow and held the back of his hand out for me to see a marking right in the center of his hand. The marking on his hand looked like a rose entwined in thorns, and it glowed a faint red.

"W-What is that?"

He then stepped closer, and closer. So close that I could feel the slight warmth rub off him, or was that me. Derrick was indeed inhuman, but is he really a demon?

"This you see," he started.

"Is a Demon's seal, if I have to explain all of this to you, you'd better listen. Demon's form contracts, the contractor has a wish, or a desire, the demon serves the contractor following each order until that goal is reached. In return the demon places his/her seal on their contractor, this keeps the contractor from running away, the more noticeable the seal the stronger the bond. Once the goal is reached, the demon then devours its contractor's soul."

What kind of a person would make a contract over something they want? If they wanted something so badly as to make a deal with a demon, why would they still do it if they would end up dying in the end?

"You're probably thinking how absurd it sounds, but, in some cases it is different. Like yours for example, many people want to get revenge, to do so they call upon a demon to assist them, once the revenge is fulfilled then he/she would be satisfied, no?"

I can't say that I don't want revenge, but making a contract? I'm not so sure it would be for the best. What should I do? I have a chance to get my answers, I shouldn't pass up this opportunity. Either way, who would even miss me? I don't have family, or friends, even if I try to make friends, they would only use me. I have no purpose to be here, so I might as well make one.

"How do we form a contract?"

This surprised Derrick, I saw his expression for a split second, it seemed shocked, but quickly turned to amusement, with a hint of pleasure.

"It's simple really, all you have to do is agree to the terms and then I place my seal on you, shall we begin?"

"Damn! Where could she be!? It's freezing cold out here what time is it anyway? The last place she could be is at the school, my best bet is there." Ciel said as he rushed to the school.

"Well I made it here, wait a second." Ciel saw footprints and a suitcase just up ahead in the direction of the dormitory.

"Thank god! She is here after all but why would she leave her suitcase behind?" Ciel then started to run in the direction of the dorm, then stopped dead in his tracks to find Clary, and Derrick in the front of the dorm.

Derrick's eyes were glowing a piercing red, and as he moved his hand with the same glowing surrounding it toward Clary, Ciel knew exactly what was going on. He took of his eyepatch, and his demon seal glowed a bright purple as he summoned his butler.

"Sebastian! Come now! " and not a second later Sebastian was by his master's side.

"Stop them! That's an order!"

Derrick had then realized that his performance had been cut short and shot through the sky landing on a nearby roof. Sebastian did the same and pursued the other demon who was not as quick on his feet as Sebastian was.

"Clary are you alright? What were you thinking?!" asked Ciel.

"I-I don't know, I just thought- I'd, I don't even know" I held my head low. "I'm sorry I really didn't mean to hurt anyone, I just-"

"Don't worry about it as long as you haven't accepted any of the terms of the contract."

Sadly I had already, right before he showed up.

"How do you know about any of this?" I asked but then looked up to find a demon seal on Ciel's right eye.

"Y-You're a contractor?! With who?" I asked.

"Sebastian is my demon contractor, look I'll explain everything later I need to know if you accepted the terms or not!" Ciel was persistent to know the answer.

_Why? It's not like we completely made the contract, he can't do me any harm. _

"Yes, but we never finished." I wasn't going to lie to him, might as well tell him what he wants to hear.

"Crap! This is bad, we have to get you out of here." Ciel said while grabbing my hand and rushing toward the gate.

"What's wrong?!" I managed to yell through my already sore throat.

"Even though you didn't fully establish the contract, if the demon wants after they're prey has accepted the terms without finalizing the contract, like second thoughts, the demon can place the seal on you and then you're trapped whether you like it or not!" Ciel was shouting as we finally reached the gate.

"Crap! It's locked!" He shouted.

I scrambled through my pockets to find my keys

"Here!" I said frantically, now I really had to get out of this place.

"Thanks, wait when did you get these?" Ciel asked looking at the keys in his hands

"There isn't any time for that hurry!" I screamed as he frantically searched for the right key.

"Got it!" He shouted in success.

Then suddenly I felt a tight hold around me, then it was significantly harder to breath. I couldn't move someone was restraining me, it was Derrick.

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Hope you guys enjoy it! Please review and there is more to come.


	3. Chapter 3

**Ch.3**

"D-Derri-?!"

I attempted to scream with his grasp on my neck as he lifted me up. I felt a burning sensation on my neck and opened my mouth in attempt to scream but nothing came out.

"Let her go!" Ciel screamed as he pulled out a pistol and fired at the demon.

Crap! If I keep going on like this I might hit her!

He thought to himself.

"Damnit Sebastian where are you?!" Ciel screamed.

"Sorry for the wait." Sebastian said as he sprung out and toward Derrick.

Derrick released his grip on me, and the two demons dissapered out of sight once again.

"Phew! That was really close, we really need to get out of here." Ciel said as he helped me up.

"Yeah, lets hurry, I really, don't want to go through that, again" I said trying to catch my breath. My hand was still aroung my neck where it had been burning.

"Hey are you alright? What's wrong with your neck?" Ciel asked, suspicious as my hand was still covering my neck.

"It just hurts a little, lets not forget a demon _was_ choking me a second ago." I said with a really annoyed and sarcastic tone.

"Well anyways I'll have Sebastian check it out once we get to the manor." Ciel said as he took my hand and led my through town.

"Wait, where are we going? Who do you live with? Does Sebastian live with you?" I asked as many questions as I could since he didn't really have a choice whether to tell me or not.

Ciel sighed,

"We are going to my mansion, yes he lives with me, he is my butler." Ciel said as bluntly as he could.

"I thought he was a teacher?!" I said shocked at the news.

Ciel gave me an expression that could make the smartest person in the world feel stupid.

"You _still _think that even _after_ you found out he was a demon?!" Ciel said.

"O-Oh yea, ehehe sorry about that, I just kinda forgot for a second." I said blushing from embarrassment.

"How do you forget we are dealing with demons if we are running away from one right now! You were attacked not too long ago too!" Ciel said with a burst of anger.

"God! I get it already! Can we _please_ drop the subject that I'm an idiot when it comes to situations that I have no advantage over!"

Ciel sighed heavily this time.

"If you wouldn't ask such idiotic questions, and actually thought before acting on your own we wouldn't have to deal with this."

I started to sneeze and sniffle again. I was shivering, and my teeth chattered.

"Hang on for a bit more we're almost there." Ciel said.

"Sure, I'll be alright, it's just a little cold."

A sharp pain shot up and around my neck as we ran. My heart beat so quickly, and the pain grew and grew until it felt like something had been burning my skin and I let out a sharp gasp of pain that startled Ciel.

"What's the matter!? Come on we're almost at the mansion, Sebastian should be waiting for us." Ciel said as he kept pulling me to go forward.

"I-I can't!" I screamed and grasped my neck as I fell to my knees.

The pain grew stronger and stronger, the burning became even more unbearable to the point where I started to tear up again. How many times have I cried today, I lost count. What time was it? Where was I? The sun was rising over the pale orchid colored sky, and Ciel just stood there, with pure horror across his face.

"C-Clary! Your neck!"

He then helped me up once again and I tried my best to keep up with him and felt myself tripping over my own feet. The world began to spin, I felt like I was floating, my face was burning as much as it had felt. Then I felt something cold wrap around my arms and legs. My face was pressed against a soft, and cold surface. I then realized I had not been runing anymore, not walking, nor limping, I was being carried. Ciel had at some point lifted me up, and was now running toward a gigantic mansion. He was saying something as he ran, but I couldn't quite hear, the blood was rushing toward my head and I had a pounding in my ears. I felt horrible, agony, like I was being tortured, but the way he held me, sent comfort to me. The pain was unbearable, but the coolnes that rubbed of Ciel, alleviated some of the pain that had been eating me from the inside out. I then turned to see what was in front of me. There were people, not many, but there were still people with shocked and worried faces.

"Mey-Rin! Run a bath with cold water! Bard go get medicine to bring down a fever! Finny bring cold towelets!" "Yessir!" They all said in unison.

* * *

Yeah, this chapter was a lot shorter. I just really wanted to put this chapter in already, because it is probably the shortest one in the story. Enjoy this little present and review!


	4. Chapter 4

**Ch.4**

I woke up in an unfamiliar room, and I could faintly here voices outside the room. My head was throbbing like hell, and my neck still burned, but I noticed, I had a bandage wrapped around my neck, and my clothes that I had been wearing were on a nightstand next to the bed I was lying in. I got up to look into the mirror that was on the nightstand, I was wearing a nightgown, my dark hair was damp and fell in waves, my brown eyes looked a little red and bloodshot. The voices outside had gotten softer and softer until they were non-existent. I decided to unwrap the bandage that was around my neck.

_Now that I think about it, Ciel did say something about my neck earlier didn't he?_

I slowly unwrapped the bandage, and it became more and more visible. Once the bandage was off, my neck no longer felt like it was burning, which was the most relief I had felt so far. Until I saw a black marking, it glowed red. I thought I was still half asleep, but the marking seemed too familiar, like I'd seen it somewhere before. As I squinted my eyes to focus more attention and blinked the sleepiness out of my eyes, once my vision was focused on the side of my neck, it was clear. A rose, surrounded by thorns, horror spread across my face, for I knew exactly what this was, Derrick had placed the seal on me when he grabbed my neck.

_That sneaky bastard!_

"Damnit! What am I supposed to do!?"

I then heard rushing footsteps, getting closer by the second.

_Crap! Probably shouldn't have screamed so loudly._

My bedroom door opened quickly, but to my surprise it was a stranger.

"Thank goodness! You're awake, I have to inform Young Master of this. He's been worried sick ever since you arrived." said a lady dressed in a maid's uniform.

She walked over next to the wall and rang a bell.

_I guess she's a housemaid or something?_

"Sorry for barging in." said the overjoyed maid turning to face me again.

"Thanks, I hope I wasn't troubling…"I said as my voice trailed off.

I quickly covered my neck to make sure she didn't see the seal. I didn't know if I could trust her or not, luckily she didn't pay much attention to it.

"Oh, by the way, I'm the housemaid, Mey-Rin. I'm sure Young Master Ciel, will introduce you to the rest of the staff here shortly but for now I'm sure he wants to check up on you" She said as she smiled brightly.

_So there's more people here? Oh that's right, he doesn't have parents either, so I'm sure he has a gigantic amount of servants._

"I'm coming!" said a voice echoing through the hall.

"Ah, that was quick, considering he was probably in his study" said Mey-Rin

"Oh, did Sebas- err Mr. Michaelis come back yet?" I asked since he dissapered along with that other damned demon.

"He hasn't returned yet, I wonder what's taking so long. Well you don't have to worry I'm sure he'll be back soon." She said.

"Why is this house so god damn big anyway!?" Ciel said as he ran into the room catching his breath.

"Well, glad to see you awake. How are you feeling? Don't, you think you should rest, a little while longer…just in case?" Ciel said practically breathless.

"I'm actually more concerned about _you_ at the moment" I chuckled.

"How did you even know to come?" I asked. "Oh Mey-Rin rang that bell, it is connected to my study, so I just came here." Ciel said calmly.

I can't talk to Ciel about this problem with Mey-Rin there, how do I get her to leave?

I started to rub my neck with the hand covering the seal, trying to signal for Ciel to dismiss Mey-Rin. He looked at me with a confused face at first, but to my surprise understood.

"Mey-Rin thank you for your assistance, you can go back to work now." Ciel said clearing his throat.

The maid left and I made sure not to say anything until I knew that she left completely.

"So, got any ideas on how to solve this problem?" I said removing my hand and pointing to the seal on my neck.

"Shouldn't you be more worried than just casually thinking that I'd know of a way to solve this epidemic?" Ciel asked wondering why I was so calm about this situation.

"Woah, slow down, let's not forget I barely woke up, so, don't throw around extensive vocabulary at me, second, internally I'm freaking out. I am literally screaming internally and thrashing around ideas, and worse things that come to mind. Obviously I will freak out more later on, but right now I just have no more bit of effort left in me." I said as I fell on the bed face first.

"So then, got any ideas?" I mumbled through the sheets.

"When are you going to start being useful? God, just get dressed and meet me in the study." Ciel groaned as he left the room.

Uh, maybe I should've asked where all my stuff was at. Oh wait, I left them in the rain at the school, of course. Oh yeah.

I got up and looked at the nightstand near the bed, my clothes were still there.

Yes!

I quickly took a shower and put on my clothes, then I looked out the window.

_When did this room have a window?_

The sky was gray, and I could feel the cold air through the crack that was left open. Then I looked at myself, I was wearing shorts, and a t-shirt.

Perfect attire for the freezing cold am I right?

"Oh well, guess I better go meet up with him." I said closing the window and heading out the door.

Well what I said was true, What the hell am I going to do! Crap!Crap!Crap! This isn't good! Can't I just, I don't know, run away or something!? I reaaaalllly shouldn't have done this! Damn, why did he choose me? He never told me why!

Before I knew it, I was in a labyrinth of halls, rooms, closets, and stairs.

"Well then…..this isn't good." I muttered to myself.

It seemed like I was walking around for an eternity, although, I'm sure it was only a few minutes.

"Hmm, let's see, haven't I passed this door before, or was it that one?"

"Ugh! I guess judging by my view out of the window I'd have to say I'm upstairs. So all I have to do is find a staircase going down! Then again, how high is this place?"

_Maybe I should go back to my room and ring the bell like Mey-Rin did._

I turned to head back to my room only to remember that by now, I was nowhere near it.

"I really hope I'm going down the right path."I said to myself as I heard a muffled sound from behind me.

"What was that? I must be hearing things I guess."

"Ah I think I see something, I guess I can work my way around here after all."

I heard it again, but this time, it sounded like a hiss.

There it is again! What is that, I'm pretty sure that was the same sound I heard before, where is it coming from.

I saw a shadow fly across the floor as fast as lightning.

"W-What was that?"

"Alright, just don't look back, it's just your imagination." I said in attempt to calm myself down.

I saw it again this time I heard another hiss.

"Okay, not my imagination." I ran as fast as I could down another set of stairs.

_Crap! Crap! Crap! I gotta run faster!_

Then something wrapped around my legs, making me trip down the last couple steps.

"Ow! What was that! AHH!"

Wrapped around my legs was a pure white snake with piercing red eyes.

_A-A-A SNAKE!_

Then the shadow of a man was coming closer and closer, I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out, then out of the shadows, was a thin, slender man, with snake-like skin.

"I caught the trespasser, says Wordsworth." the man said.

"W-W-What?" I replied still stunned by the snake constricting my legs, and the man that was in front of me.

"Wordsworth? I-Is that your name?" I asked trying to show that I was no threat to them, and I meant no harm. "No, says Wordsworth. He is Snake, I am Wordsworth." The man replied.

"S-So then this, um, snake right here, he is Wordsworth?" I asked pointing to the snake who tightened it's grip.

"Yes, says Wordsworth." The man replied.

"So, your name is Snake?" I asked the man.

"Yes, he is Snake, says Wordsworth." The man said.

"Would you mind, releasing me? I was on my way to um, Ciel's study, a-and I got lost, m-my name's Clary, and I'm not a trespasser by the way."

The snake released its grasp around me, and left a read mark around my legs. I got up and brushed myself off.

"Wait, says Wordsworth, Aren't you the girl that was brought here this morning? Says Wordsworth" Snake said.

"Y-Yeah, Um say, Wordsworth, does Snake ever talk? F-For himself of course."

_And then Ciel wonders why I'm so calm when out of the world situations happen, I'm talking to a snake. God, will I ever be normal!?_

"No, says Wordsworth And I'm sorry for hurting you, says Wordsworth."

"It's alright, I'm getting into situations like this more and more often, but, can I ask for a favor? Do you think you and, um Snake show me to Ciel's study?"

_Well might as well have someone who is actually familiar with this place show me the way._

"No problem, says Wordsworth."

After a series of twists and turns we finally managed to get to Ciel's study, it didn't seem like a long time, if anything, it was pretty fast since someone showed me the way.

"Thank you very much."

"No problem, if you ever get lost I'm sure we'll find you, says Wordsworth"

_We'll? Does that mean there's more?_

"U-Uh okay, thanks for the heads up."

Snake and his erm, snake went back upstairs shortly after. I knocked on the door to Ciel's study.

"Come in" Ciel said.

"H-Hey Ciel, your manor is pretty big isn't it." I said as I shut the door.

"You got lost didn't you." Ciel said as he smirked.

"Are we going to start a war about this or try to find a way to get rid of this damn demon seal?" I asked irritated at his comment.

Ciel chuckled at the fact I was pissed off already.

"Well back to reality, the one way to get rid of a demon once you've contracted, is fulfilling your goal. Which would end your life in the process." Ciel said.

"Well then…this is off to a bad start. Any other options?"

I asked brainstorming about possible ways other than having to I don't know _DIE! _

"Well, you could always kill him, but demons are hard to kill-"

That's when I cut him off

"So then could I just drown him in holy water or something!?" I asked.

The look on his face could kill puppies.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? DO YOU ACTUALLY THINK THAT, THAT IS HOW YOU KILL A DEMON?! AREN'T YOU AT THE TOP OF THE CLASS IN ALL OF YOUR CLASSES?! I MEAN YOU AREN'T THAT BRIGHT IN MOST SITUATIONS, BUT SERIOUSLY?!" Ciel yelled in rage.

"Look, I am trying to find a way to get rid of this, I honestly don't have time to get lectured by you, now how do we kill Derrick? More importantly how do we find him. Also where the hell is Sebsatian! I'm sure he would be a much more help than you."

"Sorry it's just that you ask the stupidest questions at times and I know you're just trying to figure out a way to solve this, either way we do indeed need Sebastian here to help us. Sebastian come now!" Ciel sighed while taking off his eye patch showing his glowing seal.

"Once he gets here, I'll tell you how summon Derrick." Ciel said.

"Well you also have to tell me the basic knowledge of this contracting stuff. Derrick was no help there." I said regretting that I had agreed to the terms of the contract.

What would I have even gained from finding the murderer? Yes I want to find whoever did it and kill them, but, I don't even know anymore.

"I'll be back, I just have to go and clear my head a bit." I said as Ciel was looking through a pile of paperwork.

"Sure just please be careful, oh what happened to your legs, they're red." Ciel asked looking at the marks I had gotten from one of Snake's snakes.

"I had a run-in with Wordsworth, nothing bad I can manage." Ciel looked at me with a confused expression, almost as if he were shocked.

"You saw Snake and weren't freaked out?" Ciel asked still surprised at my calmness.

"No not really why? I was mor freaked out that I actually got away with only a few bruises, I did fall down the stairs after all. More like I was tripped though." I said.

"Never mind, you really are something special, you know?" Ciel said almost like a laugh.

"Well Sebastian should be here any moment I don't see any problem with exploring just be careful." Ciel said.

"Don't you think Sebastian should've gotten here by now though?" I asked as I started to exit the room.

"I'm sure it's no big deal." Ciel said flipping through paperwork.

"Okay." I said as I closed the door.

* * *

Here's a longer chapter, it just bothered me that I left such a short one before. Enjoy and keep reviewing!


	5. Chapter 5

**Ch.5**

"Wow this place really is big" I said while walking to the rose garden.

"The roses smell nice, I'm still pretty far away from the actual garden, but the scent is so strong I can already smell it." I said as I glanced at the gate.

_Huh? What's that?_

Just outside the gate which separates the estate from the outside, there was something there.

_It looks like a child_.

Outside of the gate was a little boy, dressed in dark overalls with light brown hair. I couldn't see his face, but by the looks of it, he had gotten in some sort of accident. I could tell that his clothes were dirty, it looked as if they had blood stains, only slightly but I can still tell that it was indeed blood. I just didn't know if it were his.

"Hey! Are you alright!?" I yelled.

_Damn I don't think he could hear me, maybe I should get closer?_

"Hey, are you okay? What are you doing out here?"

"My brother, my mother...they're dead!" The little boy said while crying.

"What?! Okay calm down, what's you're name?" I asked trying to get some information from the kid.

"I-I'm Elliot" He said as he was choking on tears.

I took his hands from his eyes and held them tightly, I needed him to stop crying to answer questions. once he stopped the tears his blue-green eyes were puffy and red.

"It's okay Elliot just tell me what happened." I told Elliot, his face was flushed from the crying.

_Maybe he's sick, should I let him in, or should I just go, maybe I should inform Ciel about this. I don't have enough time to go right now, Oh that's right!_

"Could you give me a second please, I'll be right back okay Elliot?" I said dashing to the garden of roses.

_Where did he say they would be? Ah! Found it!_

Near the edge of the garden there was a little den there, it contained one of Snake's snakes.

_How am I supposed to have it come out? Should I just stick my hand in there? No that would be suicide! God I'm going to look like an idiot! Oh well I can't waste any more time._

"Uh, um excuse me, Wordsworth told me that if I needed any assistance, to ask one of his family members' for help, would you mind coming out." I murmured into the den.

_I feel like such an idiot!_

Sure enough, a pale green snake slithered out from the hole,

"Hi there I don't know your name, but we can be better aquainted later, I need you to inform Ciel to come into town as soon as possible, I will take my leave to investigate something." I said to the snake hoping my efforts wouldn't be wasted.

The snake nodded and slithered toward the house, more like rocketed.

_Phew!_

"Alright Elliot, explain to me what happened on the way. Take me to where they are." I instructed him as I climbed the gate, there obviously was no time to wait for Ciel.

"Let's go." I told Elliot and he grabbed my hand and rushed towards the town.

"So could you tell me what happened?" I asked Elliot.

"There was a scary man, and he killed my mom and brother." Elliot said trying to hold back tears.

"Did you see what the man looked like? Any scars or tattoos?" I asked.

"I didn't see anything, I was hiding" Elliot replied and quickened his pace.

"What happened after?" I asked trying to get as much information out of him.

"He just disappeared." Elliot said and slowly came to a stop.

"Is this where you live?" I asked him, he nodded.

It was a normal size house, well normal enough to have 3 people living there. I felt a cold chill run down my spine as I caught the scent of blood.

_What should I expect to be inside this house?_

"Did you have any other family members living here besides the three of you?" I asked Elliot who was hiding behind me.

"No, oh we have a kitten, but I don't know where he is, he ran away when the scary man came in." Elliot said still clinging onto my leg.

_Maybe we should wait for Ciel and Sebastian…they should be here any time now._

"I'm sure you'll find him soon enough." I motioned to open the door, shaking a little from the fear that ran up my spine.

"Wait!" Ciel screamed from a couple houses down.

_Oh thank god!_

"Just in time!" I yelled back Sebastian was right behind Ciel.

_I wonder what took him so long when Ciel summond him earlier. _

It looked like he was carrying something, was he?

"Alright, what's the deal?" Ciel said once he caught up to us.

"Elliot's family has been murdered by someone, we don't know who." I replied and Ciel sneezed.

"Damn! Sebastian why did you have to bring that! You know I'm allergic!" Ciel said and sneezed again.

"Bring what?" I asked.

The demon took out a small black kitten from his arms and showed it to me.

"I saw it wandering around, I couldn't help myself" The demon chuckled.

"That's my kitten that ran away not too long ago! He got scared of that creepy man and left." said Elliot

"That's your kitten?" I asked

"He's cute isn't he?" I said to Elliot, trying to cheer him up.

_I guess that's all the family he has left now. Poor kid._

Sebastian handed over the feline to Elliot.

"So, shall we investigate?" I said leaning against the door, accidentally opening it and falling in.

"Ow…ow…ow."

It's pretty dark in here, and wet, was it raining earlier? I doubt it.

"Are you okay?" Elliot said

"Yeah, I'm fine I just fell in some water that's all. At least I think." I said rubbing my head.

I focused my vision a little more, only to find my hand stained with blood, along with half of my body that was in the puddle of 'water' I looked up and saw two bodies lying on the floor.

"Hey, Clary what are you doing? Get out here already." Ciel said irritated of my absence.

I couldn't produce any sound, I felt like screaming at the top of my lungs, but nothing came out, not a scream, nor a word. Chills sent throughout my body, and I was frozen, unable to move a muscle. I still sat there, astonished at what was in that house. What if the killer had returned? What if I was about to be killed where I sat? I managed to get up, wobbly, and trying to gain some sort of balance. I got to the door, and with that came the mountain of questions.

"What took you so long? What was in there? Wait, wh-why are you covered in blood?!" Ciel asked practically yelling.

I couldn't hear much of it, since I felt pounding in my ears.

"Hey what's wrong?" I heard Elliot say.

At that moment, I snapped back into reality.

_I can't scare him anymore, he's already been through a lot today._

"O-Oh I-It's nothing, h-hey Ciel, um, it would be best if Elliot didn't see any of this." I managed to say.

"R-Right, Sebastian." Ciel said

"Yes sir." Sebastian took Elliot's hand and led him away.

"Care to explain?" Ciel said, coming closer.

"No! Don't come any closer, trust me on that decision! Come on, lets go talk to the police." I said trying to redirect Ciel from the house.

"C'mon, We have to investigate this ourselves, besides, what if the murderer isn't _human_? There is a chance your little demon is behind this." Ciel said going inside of the house.

"It's pitch-black in here, you can't possibly see anything in here."

_Just you wait, then you'll see why I warned you!_

"Oh my god…I see why you didn't want Elliot to see this. I don't think this is a demon's work, so I guess we can leave this case to the police. Come on, lets get back to the manor, I'm sure you wouldn't want to stay in dry blood now would you?" Ciel said closing the door.

Afternoon changed to evening, when we finally got back to the manor, and as the sun set we regrouped in the study after I got all the blood of me.

"So did you guys get any information on the case?" I asked breaking the silence.

"We haven't gotten any orders to actually act on this case, so for now, this case belongs to the police. Until the Queen, appoints it to me then we can actually do something about this. For now I'd like to ask you to get as much information from Elliot as you can until we get those orders." Ciel said.

"Sounds easy enough." I said in a low voice.

_How much longer does Elliot have to suffer? Well at least like this I can get to know him better, maybe I'll cheer him up. I still don't know if he has any other distant relatives. We really need more information on the killer, what if he plans on coming back. Damn, why can't the Queen just assign the case to Ciel already, I know she might in a few days, but the faster the better. The thing that bothers me is why someone would murder this family, did they have something to do with the killer's own problem. If so we should research the family that was killed. From the looks of it Elliot didn't look like he were from a particularly wealthy family. It looked completely normal, why would this happen to him of all things._

"Hey, is something bothering you? I've speaking your name for the past 5 minutes." Ciel said waving his hand in front of my face.

"Huh, oh, I was just over-analyzing this, I should really get to bed." I said.

"But it's only 6:00 p.m. why so early, are you sure nothing's wrong?" Sebastian asked worriedly.

"Yeah I'm sure, I need to rest if I have to investigate tomorrow. You guys should do some research too, even without the Queen's permission I don't see why you can't. If you don't have her permission, you can't get really far, but it doesn't stop you from making progress now does it?" I said opening the door to the room.

"It certainly doesn't, we'll be sure to do so, I'll bring some tea to your room if you'd like." Sebastian said with a smile.

"That'd be great, oh, considering the size of the manor, do you happen to have a library?" I asked before I shut the door.

"Yes, why do you ask?" Ciel asked finally saying something.

"No reason, just wanted to know that there was a place that I could spend time in peace for the next few days." I said closing the door.

I started to head back to my room. I finally got to the room and turned on one of the lanterns and placed it on the nightstand. I looked through the drawers and found a leather-bound notebook, I began to write questions to investigate Elliot with, and ideas of solving this problem with Derrick.

_The guest rooms here practically have everything you need, well of course a few things aren't in here, but at least there is a little notebook, like this I can actually get ahead on my investigating._

I spent a good 30 minutes writing anything I knew in the notebook when someone knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" I asked as I put the notebook back in the drawer and yawned softly.

"I've come to bring your tea." Sebastian said from the other side of the door.

"Oh, come in." I said allowing the demon to enter.

"Thanks." I said yawning again.

"What were you doing that got you this tired already?" Sebastian asked with a chuckle.

"Research, it's been a long day anyway." I said bringing the cup to my lips.

"I suppose so, I hope you won't have any nightmares on what you saw today, I was told it was not a pretty sight." Sebastian said.

"Yeah, that was definitely something you don't see everyday." I said putting the cup down.

"I hope we find this killer and quick, we still don't know his intentions, so we don't have any advantage over this situation." I said.

"Do you think that there were any more cases like this?" I asked.

"I'm not quite sure, I should look into that tomorrow, get some rest and we can talk more in the morning." Sebastian said.

"Alright then." I pouted and handed him the dishes.

He left the room and I just sat back down on my bed. I couldn't get the image of that murder out of my head anymore, it was terrifying. I took the notebook from the drawer and lit the lantern again. I just couldn't get any rest so might as well plan out the events for tomorrow. I was writing down so many things in the notebook, trying to figure out how to find Derrick, how to get rid of him, and how to deal with this case.

_What kind of things should I need to know about Elliot, what would that do for the case. He said he didn't see anything, it would be much more help if we knew about the family. Elliot is pretty young, he wouldn't know much about it anyway._

I turned to look at the clock and it was 11:00 p.m.

_It isn't that late, but maybe I should sleep, I really hope we finish this case and soon._

I turned off the lantern and fell back into the covers.

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Hope you guys like! Please keep on reviewing, any questions just ask I'll be trying to update every Monday but there is this one little devil that will try to get in the way of my plans,(school =_=) Anyways enjoy and review!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N Sorry for the delay guys! I had some computer troubles, (My laptop broke) so thankfully that is all resolved now. I'm still getting used to the new laptop so if there are any errors I'm so sorry, please enjoy the new chapter. (^w^)

* * *

**Ch.6**

_Why is it so bright?_

I sat up on my bed to see the curtains pulled to the side letting in the sunlight.

_A simple wake-up call would've been nice._

I got up squinting my eyes at the harsh light and pulling the curtains back down to cover the blinding light, I turned and walked to the clock.

_6:30 a.m. huh? Why so early…I'm not much of a morning person._

I quickly showered and got dressed in my clothes.

_Thank god Mey-Rin washed them. Now I just have to go ask Ciel where to find Elliot._

I walked out of the room and headed for the study; now that I have a better sense of direction it wasn't that hard to find my way around. I knocked on the door to the study only to receive no answer.

"Ciel? Are you in there?" I asked opening the door slightly.

To my surprise no one was in there. I closed the door and leaned against the wall.

_I know it's early but someone must have moved the curtains to wake me up, I'm sure at least Sebastian would've wakened Ciel up by now._

I sighed softly and wandered the house.

_Maybe I should just go back to my room, I barely learned my way to the study so it's best to just go back and wait._

I made my way into the hall and bumped into something before I could see what it was. I was bumped against the wall and thankfully didn't fall on the floor.

"Ouch, sorry I didn't see you." I stated apologetically standing up straight.

"Oh it's you." I said staring at Ciel.

"Yeah…" he said yawning.

He looked like he barely woke up despite being dressed already. His hair still looked messy, and he continued to yawn as he made his way to the study. I followed since I was going to need to be there anyway.

"You're tired?" I asked as Ciel staggered a bit while walking.

"Yeah a little, I was up later than usual." He said yawning again.

"What were you doing?" I asked as curiosity took over.

"Research, I came up with nothing in the end, but it will progress soon enough no later than a day from now." He said as he opened the door to the study.

"Speaking of which, where am I supposed to interrogate Elliot?" I asked.

"Sebastian will give you the details for now I need to know if you know how to defend yourself. If you're going to help us with this case, or any other cases, you need to protect yourself and probably others. After all we are dealing with a murderer." Ciel said sitting in his chair.

"W-Well, sort of, I guess." I murmured as I sat in the chair on the opposite side of the desk.

"What do you mean _sort of? _Do you?" Ciel asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I mean, yes, and no." I said trying to find the right words to use.

"Like, I'm not experienced like you are, but I can put up a fight. Well not like that it's, it's complicated, just trust me okay?" I said leaning back lazily on the chair.

The door opened and in came Sebastian with a cart of sweets and tea.

"Oh finally." Ciel said as he leaned back on his chair also.

"My apologies, I took more time into the dishes for this morning, I felt like you would need more energy. So I specially chose these." Sebastian remarked gesturing at the cart.

"Thanks for your effort; anyway you need to give Clary the information on Elliot." Ciel said taking a cup and piece of cake.

_Well he wasted no time in getting to the point and devouring the cake._

"Oh yes, Elliot is staying in an orphanage near his former home. It shouldn't be too hard to find. Take these with you." Sebastian said handing me a gun and knife.

"U-Uh, are these really necessary?" I asked in an uncomfortable tone.

"You should be used to them shouldn't you?" He asked.

"N-Not really…I'm fine without them trust me." I said handing them back.

"Just take the knife then, we need to make sure you're safe. You're more than capable of using it despite your, lack of attention, or thought, or responsibility-" Ciel said before I cut him off.

"Alright alright! I get it can I leave now?" I asked anger filling my words.

"Sure just stay out of trouble." Ciel said with a grin.

"Make sure you do your _own_ research as well." I said leaving the room.

"I swear Ciel just loves to piss me off doesn't he?!" I muttered under my breath as I headed for my room.

I walked down the various halls then slammed the door. I flopped on my bed and sighed heavily.

_How should I execute this plan, I am dealing with a little kid who lost his family a day ago. How is he going to react, will he even remember me?_

I got up and dressed in my clothes, I looked into the drawer to get a bandage to cover my seal, and to get the notebook I was writing in. I slipped on my shoes and headed outside. Once I got out I made my way to the garden and over the gate again. This was the only way I knew would take me to where Elliot was anyway. I made it to the house Elliot lived in only to find police tape surrounding it. I just ignored it and went looking for the orphanage.

_Is Sebastian sure that it's around here?_

I turned a corner and saw a big building, it looked a little run-down, but decent.

_I'm guessing that's it. It does have a faded sign that I think says orphanage on it. I need a closer look._

I quickly walked toward the window of the building and saw someone at a desk. It was a lady, some-what old, but young. Maybe in her 30's, but what caught my attention was a room just to the left, I couldn't see the words on the door but I could see a figure on the inside. The door opened and a man came out, Elliot following behind.

"There he is!" I said and opened the door to the orphanage.

I ran towards him but was stopped almost immediately. There were guards who were restraining me from behind and the lady at the desk motioned for the man to take Elliot away.

"N-No you don't understand I need to speak with him!" I said trying to break free.

"Let her go." The woman said, and the guards loosened their grasp.

"Thanks, uh I'm here to investigate the mu- I mean, I have some questions to ask Elliot regarding the incident that put him here in the first place." I said trying not to give away any information.

"Hmm, well, you will need to fill out a form to gain consent, but you look a little young to be taking out kids for questioning. No matter we need your information gathered first." She said raising an eyebrow at me.

"Fine." I sighed and followed her to a room.

Several minutes later I was given permission to take Elliot into temporary custody, it was going to be a few hours at most. I took his hand and lead him out.

"So how was it?" I asked trying to break the ice.

Elliot just stayed quiet; it was uncomfortable, very uncomfortable. We were walking around town and Elliot still said nothing. After a few minutes his stomach started to growl.

_This is my chance!_

"E-Elliot, are you hungry?" I asked unsteadily.

Elliot just nodded in response refusing to speak.

"What would you like to eat?" I asked trying to have him say something.

He just shrugged and kept looking around him.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

He just shook his head, but I could tell something was bothering him.

"Look, I really need you to cooperate. It would be nice if you told me something you know." I said with a sigh.

"I just don't want to talk. They made me answer questions over there too." Elliot murmured loud enough for me to hear.

"Trust me, I won't ask much of you, please?" I asked kneeling down in front of him.

"Promise?" Elliot asked holding out his pinkie.

"I Promise." I smiled and held mine out as well.

"So, are you hungry?" I asked as I stood up again.

"A little." He said looking at the shops.

_It's a good thing I still have my wallet._

"Let's go get you something." I said walking into a coffee shop.

Elliot's eyes grew big as he saw the colorfully decorated menu.

"Can I have the cake?" He asked excitement filling his voice.

"Sure." I said with a smile.

The waiter came to our table and ordered Elliot his piece of cake; I made sure to sit at a table in the far corner of the room so no one could hear our conversation.

"So Elliot, would you like to answer some questions?" I asked nicely trying not to upset him.

"Sure." he said eagerly.

"Alright, state your full name, age, and date of birth." I said pulling out a pen and the notebook I took from the room.

Elliot said nothing, he just looked in confusion.

_I think he didn't understand._

"Scratch that, why don't you just write down some information about yourself. Think of it as getting to know you, so write anything you want me to know. Secrets, personal information, just like you would be making a new friend." I said with a smile handing him the pen and notebook.

"Oh, now I understand what you meant." Elliot said grabbing the items I was holding.

He kept on writing until the waiter came back. He quickly looked up and his eyes lit up with joy and grew, the big blue-green orbs were locked on the cake that was on the platter. Once the waiter set it down he returned to take another person's order and Elliot practically attacked the cake which made me laugh.

"Well I can only stay with you for a few more hours, let's see…" I trailed off looking for a clock.

"Its 12:30 so we have plenty of time, enjoy your cake and I'll ask you some yes and no questions in the meantime, just nod yes or no." I said grabbing the notebook and pen.

I looked over what he wrote to make sure I didn't repeat a question, after all, I did promise.

"Alright first question, do you know any reason why your family would stand out? Like, for example, did you think you had any enemies?" I asked pen in hand to write his answer.

Elliot shook his head indicating 'no'.

_Great. This is off to a good start. _I thought sarcastically

"Did you see which direction the killer went?" I asked hoping for a better answer.

Once again he shook his head.

"Did you see where he came in?" I asked sighing.

This time he nodded yes, and cleared his throat.

"He came in through the back door, that's when my mother and brother went into the room, but I hid so I didn't see much after that." He said taking another bite.

I quickly wrote down the information and Elliot destroyed the cake.

"Well we are finished here; go wait outside for me alright." I said getting up.

"Okay." Elliot said leaping from his seat and heading for the door.

I finished paying and left the shop, once I was out there Elliot wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"E-Elliot?!" I said in shock.

_I told him to wait outside where could he have gone?! Don't tell me he ran away or something does he not like me? Damn this!_

I closed the door and ran to the nearest person I could see.

"Um, excuse me have you seen a little boy, blue-green eyes, light brown hair?" I asked frantically.

"No, I'm sorry I haven't seen anyone pass by here." The man said.

"O-Okay thanks for your time." I said before running in the other direction.

_Where could he have gone!? I don't think he would want to run away I didn't do anything to provoke him._

"Excuse me; have you seen a little boy pass by here?" I asked a lady who was selling jewelry.

"Hm? A boy, actually yes." She said.

"Really? Do you know which way he went?" I asked ready to dash in the direction I was told.

"He ran towards the orphanage around the corner, it looked like he was worried, maybe he forgot something there." The lady said pointing to the direction of the orphanage.

"Thank you very much!" I said before running off.

_Why would he go back there, it looked like he was miserable when he was in that place?_

I kept running until I saw Elliot walk out of the orphanage with something.

"Elliot! I told you to wait outside! Why did you leave!?" I said furious as I walked toward him.

"I'm sorry I just forgot someone important before I left." He said holding out his cat.

"Really?" I said with a sigh.

"You have to tell me these things before you run off." I said grabbing his hand and walking towards a bench.

"Well I did write it down in the notebook." He said pointing at my pocket with the notebook.

"What? Well how was I supposed to know you wrote something like that down?" I asked.

"Well, I thought that you would've looked inside the notebook at some point." He said pouting.

"Sorry for yelling." I said with a heavy sigh.

"I thought you ran away or something, I guess I over reacted." I said sitting down.

"So why did you go back to get your cat?" I asked as he sat down at put the cat on his lap.

"Well earlier they took him from me so that they could ask me questions. I got lonely and bored so I forgot about him, then I remembered when I was outside and I went to get him." He said stroking the cat's black fur.

"Well at least you got him." I said opening the notebook and reading over the information.

"Well you pretty much answered everything I needed, so is there any other thing you want to tell me about yourself?" I said putting the notebook back in my pocket.

"Let's see…" Elliot trailed off.

"I wanna know more about you." He said smiling.

"M-Me?" I asked surprised

_Well I would understand since I'm practically a stranger to him._

"Yeah, so we can be friends, you did help me out that last time remember?" He said looking away and focusing his attention on the cat.

"You remember?" I asked.

"Yep, so what's your name?" He asked.

"It's Clarissa." I said looking away.

"That's a nice name, but I meant your full name." He said with a laugh.

"O-Oh, Clarissa Stonewell, I'm used to just saying my first name so I'm accustomed to that only." I said looking back at Elliot who just smiled brightly.

"How old are you?" He asked petting the cat and looking at me.

"13, I'm still surprised that they let me have temporary custody on you." I said trailing off.

"What about the boy that came with you the other day?" He asked.

"Oh, him." I said pouting.

"That is Ciel Phantomhive, I think he's 13 too, I never really asked him, and he never really talks about himself either so I never brought it up." I said.

"Oh what about the other guy the one who found my kitten?" He asked.

"That was Ciel's uh-well he is our teacher Sebastian Michaelis. I'm not sure how old he is though." I said falling deep into thought.

_Come to think of it I hardly know anything about them; maybe I should start this sort of thing when I get back. After all I am practically going to live with them might as well get to know them._

"Clarissa! Hey can you hear me?" Elliot said waving a hand in front of me.

"Oh sorry I was just thinking. Anyway is there anything else you want to know?" I asked.

"Where do you live?" Elliot asked.

"Do you live with your parents? Do you have any pets? Where do you go to school? Do you have any plans for tomorrow?" Elliot asked he voice filled with curiosity.

"One at a time please, you sure do have a lot of questions. Let's see, I go to Westen College, same as Ciel, no I don't have any pets, well unless you count snakes…" I trailed off then met with large blue-green eyes filled with excitement.

"Go on." He said his eyes growing wider.

"Well the mansion you were outside of, that's where I live, and no my parents don't live with me." I said looking at the sky.

"So then you live alone? Why?" Elliot asked slouching back on the bench.

"I live with Ciel and Sebastian, my parent's died when I was young, probably your age, they are really nice, so are the servants at the mansion. I haven't met them all, but it's very welcoming." I said with a smile.

"That's terrible, but it seems nice that you found another place to call home." Elliot said stroking the kitten.

"I'm sure someone will come to get you too, and besides, I'll always be here for you." I said with a kind smile and Elliot smiled brightly at me.

"How much more time do we have?" Elliot asked.

"Oh that's right," I trailed off looking for the nearest clock.

"Well it looks like we've spent 2 hours at most, I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I kept you for a little longer, if that's alright with you." I said standing up.

"Why don't we go look around some more?" I said taking his hand and dragging him from the bench.

"Where are we going?" Elliot asked holding his kitten tightly to his chest.

"Anywhere." I said as I quickened my pace.

After what seemed like hours, the sky had turned into a navy blue and stars filled the sky. We had gone to so many different places, places I didn't even know about.

"That was so fun!" Elliot said stretching out his arms.

"I had fun too, I learned a lot about you today." I said patting his head.

"I know and I learned so much about you too. Can we do this tomorrow too? I want to see the inside of your house and I want to meet everyone else too." Elliot said eager to hear my answer.

"I don't see any problem with that, but first I think we should take you back before I get into trouble." I said.

"Fine." Elliot said pouting.

"Okay let's go back then." I said going towards the orphanage.

Elliot was pouting the whole walk there, he only smiled when his kitten would purr or lay on his shoulder. I reached out to touch the kitten but ended up petting Elliot's head.

"What was that for?" Elliot said looking up.

"Well, it seemed like something was bothering you." I said trying to cover up my idiotic mistake.

"I just want to spend more time playing." Elliot said as we stopped in front of the orphanage.

"I want to too, but I can't." I said opening the door.

There was no one at the desk, I walked up to see a bunch of forms and found mine.

"I guess I'll sign the form stating I brought you back safely." I said signing the papers.

Elliot's kitten meowed softly and curled up on his shoulder. Elliot let out a laugh and smiled brightly.

"You must really love him." I said petting the kitten.

"Well, he is my family, but he isn't the only one I have left." Elliot said looking at me.

"I have you too." He said with a smile.

"Yes, yes you do." I said hugging him tightly before leaving.

"See you tomorrow!" He said before running up the stairs.

"See you." I whispered back as he disappeared in the dark and I shut the door.

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Thanks for reading keep the reviews coming to give me inspiration!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Hello guys! I know this update is early, but thanks to a reviewer that asked me a question I will try my best to update twice a week maybe more depending on the length of the chapter, or if I have a writers block. I'm getting those quite often, so like I said no promises, but I will try my best, if it takes me longer than usual, then I have a writers block, it actually took me a while to get this chapter done too. Anyway, enjoy and keep reviewing! It will make me happy!

* * *

**Ch.7**

_It's only 10:00 p.m., are the streets normally this empty?_ I thought to myself as I headed home.

_It's going to take quite a long time to get back; maybe I shouldn't have spent such a long time with Elliot today._

I reached into my pocket to take out my notebook and began reading at a nearby light-post.

"Elliot Neil, age 9, born December 24. Loves to eat sweets, best friend, his brother and kitten. Family, mother, and elder brother."

_His birthday is tomorrow. Maybe that's why he was so eager to meet up._

I was pulled out of my thoughts and drew my attention towards an ally. I heard a strange sound and cautiously walked over, quietly taking the knife from my shoe.

_Pretty nice place to put it, I had no other spot besides my jacket which was no option._

I held the knife tightly and slowly walked into the ally only to find nothing.

_Just my imagination?_

I turned back and the light post was flickering.

_Probably a good idea to head back now, hopefully they won't get too mad that I've been out for this long._

I quickened my pace and sped off to the manor. I clime doer the fence again and sneaked my way in through the back in an attempt to not get caught and lectured by Ciel.

"What the hell took so long?!" Ciel yelled from behind me as I was closing the door to the back entrance.

"I was doing my job! And try not to scare the living day-lights out of me next time!" I yelled back putting my hand to my chest trying to catch my breath.

"You know a simple 'Where were you?' could have been more than enough." I muttered.

"We don't have enough time for that right now, while you were out frivoling Sebastian and I got some important information too." Ciel said grabbing my hand and dragging me along.

"So then you were able to get a lead in this case without help from the Queen?" I said with a laugh.

"I have my resources, now I'm sure you got your part done as well?" Ciel said.

"Yep, he seems like a normal kid, nothing special, his family is just, normal, I don't see any reason why there would be someone that would want to kill his family." I said.

"Well, we're just going to have to find out." Ciel said letting my hand go and opening the door.

"Good evening." Sebastian said closing the door.

"It's a little late for 'evening' isn't it?" I asked.

"Well I suppose so, but it wouldn't have been if you came earlier now would it?" Ciel commented, sitting behind his desk.

"I wasn't talking to you." I hissed as I took a seat.

"Now, now, this isn't the time to be fighting." Sebastian said pulling out papers from a file he was holding.

"Unfortunately the killer still hasn't been found, and apparently your little hunch was right. There are several other murders linked to this case." Sebastian continued.

"No survivors were reported, in these cases, there are no specific similarities, like the families being related, the only thing is that there was always one family member that wasn't killed at the same time as the rest." Sebastian finished, Ciel and I were both confused at the information given.

"If there were no survivors or witnesses, how did one member survive each case?" Ciel asked confusion in each word he spoke.

"Shortly after," Sebastian continued.

" The remaining member was killed, in each of the cases. The murderer made it look like it was an accident, or a suicide." Sebastian said.

"Then Elliot is in danger!" I screamed

"If the killer is still out there, he is sure to kill him!"

_Elliot, please be alright! He's been through so much already, he, he doesn't deserve to die! _

"Don't worry he's safe in the orphanage, his uncle should be coming for him shortly." Sebastian said in attempt to reassure me.

"How would you know?" I asked.

"Once I gathered all this I noticed that too, so I contacted the orphanage and his Uncle should be picking him up. He was out at the time with you."

_His uncle? But when I talked to him, he said he didn't have any other family members. I'm sure he wouldn't lie._

"Elliot doesn't have any other family members." I said in a hushed tone, but audible enough for them to heat and it stunned both Ciel and Sebastian.

"What do you mean?" asked Sebastian

"When I was talking with Elliot and asking him questions, he told me that he had no other family besides his mom and brother." I said still trying to figure out who this fake uncle was, and why he was coming.

"Oh crap!" I yelled and headed for the door quickly turning the knob and rushing into the labyrinth of halls.

I felt for the knife and noticed that it was still in my pocket from earlier when I put it back. I went out the front door and then escaped from the gates.

"Where are you going?!" Ciel screamed from behind he had been running with me and Sebastian was not far behind.

"I'll explain on the way! Sebastian, how did the other members die?!" I screamed trying to get as much information to solve the puzzle in my head.

"Two victims were children as well, one was age. 9 she had been killed in an ally in a foster home she had been sent to. The other was a boy age. 6 he was found hanging from the tree at his aunt's." Sebastian said.

_He was perfectly audible, had he caught up already? Oh yea, demonic speed._

"That's terrible! Anyway, Elliot does not have any other family; I'm sure he tried to explain it, but the people at the orphanage might think that it was trauma from his experience. His uncle is the killer; once the carriage arrives for Elliot the supposed 'Uncle' will lead the carriage away to an abandoned location and kill Elliot!" I screamed.

"I think we just solved the case." Ciel said catching up from behind.

"No we haven't accomplished anything if Elliot dies!" I yelled this time even louder than before.

_How far is the orphanage anyway? At this rate we won't make it in time!_

"Are, we almost, there!?" I asked between breaths.

_Damn! I can't let him die! Elliot, I swear I'll protect you!_

I kept running and burst through the doors of the orphanage.

"Where, is Elliot?" I asked a lady at the desk of the orphanage.

"Elliot?" She asked me

"Look, we don't have time to talk about nonsense, Elliot, a little boy, light brown hair, green eyes, his family was murdered earlier!" I yelled, tears were starting to well up in my eyes, but I wiped them away.

_I won't lose to him, if this is Derrick; there is no way in hell I'll let him get away with this._

"Oh that poor little boy, his uncle came to pick him up, they should be around the back." The woman said.

"What…." I backed away from the desk and ran towards the back of the building.

Indeed there was a carriage there.

_Elliot! I'm coming! _

The carriage started moving.

_Crap!_

There were screams coming from the carriage, I could faintly make them out.

'Let me go! I don't know you!' they said, they were screams coming from Elliot.

_Bastard! If this really is Derrick, I'm going to kill him._

I ran after the carriage forgetting any other thing in the world. How long would it take for me to realize where I was? If Ciel and Sebastian had been following me? Ciel was running after me, he was yelling something, I couldn't hear him, or I just blocked any other thought besides saving Elliot.

_C'mon! Faster, I need to go faster!_

The carriage came to a stop, I hid behind an ally.

_Damn I should just get him out of there! But we are dealing with a murderer. I have to be more careful. _

Something grabbed me from behind and covered my mouth.

_Crap! Who's there!_

"Shhh! What's the matter with you? You can't just run off on your own like that, now do you have a plan." Ciel whispered.

_Thank god, it's only Ciel._

"Nope, no plan at all, just save Elliot, and capture the murderer." I whispered back.

"You're kidding me right?" Ciel said.

"Oh well we've got no choice anymore." Ciel sighed lightly.

The door to the carriage flew open. Elliot was screaming and kicking, and I heard a cat hissing.

_The killer must be making his move!_

"Let me go!" Elliot continued to scream.

"Wait, a little longer then we make our move." Ciel whispered again.

Elliot screamed again this time more blood-curdling than before.

_I can't take this anymore!_

The carriage door shut again and sped off.

"Crap! Come on they're getting away!" I screamed.

We started to run towards the carriage, but I heard something from behind us.

_N-No way!_

It was Elliot. He wasn't in the carriage anymore; the killer had the carriage speed away, leading us in its direction.

"They tricked us!" I screamed and headed back to where we originally were.

"What do you mean? C'mon they're getting away!" Ciel said.

"There isn't anyone in that carriage, the murderer knew we were following them and redirected us!" I yelled.

_Damn it! We fell for it! Elliot hold on I'm coming! _

Another scream had been let out near dark ally.

"Elliot!" I screamed and headed in the ally.

"No, don't come any closer!" Elliot said, he sounded exhausted, or falling asleep.

_What happened?_

A nearby lamp-post turned on, and shed light in my direction, revealing what was lying ahead. Elliot was on the floor, bleeding from a gash across his stomach.

"E-Elliot?" I said as the tears welled up in my eyes.

There was a figure behind him, and his little kitten on the ground as well, crumpled, I guess he was protecting him.

"Elliot, I-I'm sorry!"

I yelled as I ran towards the figure, and hit as hard as I could, but he was too fast. The figure avoided my attack and hit me from behind, I fell to the floor. All the air in my chest had been knocked out by that single blow. I struggled to get up, but pushed myself either way.

"W-Who are you? Show yourself, you, you COWARD!" I screamed at it.

"Killing innocent people, what reason do you have to take innocent lives!? These families, these children! Why do they have to die at your feet!? You bastard! I'll kill you!" I pulled out my knife and ran straight to the man.

I don't know what I was doing, I didn't know how to use a knife I guess I pulled it out the wrong way because I felt like blood was running down my hand. I grabbed the hilt of the knife and felt it tear something, but I don't know what. The world was spinning, and there wasn't even the sound of wind blowing, only the sound of gunshots, three of them. I was on the ground, and there was a body next to me.

"Clary! Are you alright?!" I heard someone scream.

I didn't pay attention to the voice; the only thought running through my head was Elliot. "Where? Where is Elliot?" I asked under my breath.

"I-Is he alright." I said getting up and walking to where Elliot had been lying.

"Elliot? I'm sorry, I-I couldn't protect you." I said crying, hot tears ran down my face as I embraced Elliot's limp body.

"I-It's alright, Clare, I hope you don't mind if I call you that." Elliot said, and I started to cry even more at the fact that he was suffering.

"Please, don't cry, I want to see you smile. Before I go, I'll be fine, mom and, and my brother will be with me. I'll tell them so much about you, how you cared for me, and helped me. So please don't cry." Elliot said.

"Sure, you're a tough kid Elliot," I said with a smile choking on my tears

"I'll miss you." Elliot said.

He leaned up a little to whisper something in my ear; those last words will always stay in my heart, once I put Elliot back down. His eyes darkened, and his body grew cold and stiff. Trying to wipe the tears from my eyes when I heard a faint sound behind Elliot, like a moan, but a soft one. His kitten was trying to move toward Elliot.

"He's still alive!" I cautiously grabbed the kitten and checked its injuries, no outside injuries, but it felt like he had a few broken bones.

"Elliot, I'm sorry you had to leave this way."

I stood up with the kitten in my arms, and saw Ciel standing there, with his gun in hand.

"So that was the gunshot I heard, so then, who was the body?"

I looked down to see the figure that was on the ground lifeless.

"We should probably head back." I said.

My voice was emotionless, it sent shivers down my spine, but at that moment, I really didn't care.

"Clary, your hand." Ciel spoke softly.

Blood was dripping from my hand from where I grabbed the knife. "I grabbed my knife wrong that's all. Come on lets go." I said.

"Where's Sebastian?" I asked.

"T-That's a good question. Sebastian where are you?" Ciel said.

We stood there for a good five minutes and still no sign of Sebastian.

"Oh well we can figure this out once we head back to the manor." I said, and started to walk home.

"Hey are you feeling alright?" Ciel asked as we were walking through the gates of the mansion.

"You haven't said a word the whole walk here." Ciel said.

"What exactly do you talk about after finding someone dead." I asked, though it came out more like a statement.

"Elliot is dead and it's all my fault, the killer is dead and that was also my fault, I didn't get any answers, this case will be unsolved because of me, there were no witnesses, no leads, our killer is dead, along with his last target, and you expect me to bounce back from this like nothing ever happened?" I said.

Ciel just kept walking and said nothing.

"Ciel, I'm sorry, I've just got a lot of things on my mind, I really didn't mean to snap at you." I said apologetically.

"It's all my fault that Elliot died, it's my fault." Tears started to form in my eyes and fall down my face.

"It wasn't your fault. I'm sure that Elliot wouldn't want you to blame yourself, so don't" Ciel said.

"By the way, Sebastian still hasn't come has he?" I said, trying to forget the previous problem.

"I'm sure we shouldn't ignore that problem, after all he is your servant." Wiping away my tears and pushing back the waves of hair that had been covering my face.

My forehead was hot and the back of my neck as well, my hair stuck to the back of my neck. My clothes were wet, and dirty.

_How many times are my clothes going to get ruined anyway? _

I ignored the spot where there was some of the blood that had come off Elliot, I gave the kitten to Mey-Rin who entered a room and started to bandage him up.

"At least the kitten is alright." I said while Ciel had been thinking of something. It looked like he was trying really hard to process something, I couldn't figure out what.

"It really is suspicious that Sebastian hasn't come yet, maybe he is waiting in the study?" Ciel said trying to find out why his butler was so late.

"Let's go check then." I said snapping Ciel out of his thoughts, grabbing his wrists and dragging him to the study.

"Is this supposed to be happening?" I asked Ciel.

"After all, I still don't know much about this whole contracting thing." I said, still confused.

_Ciel really is trying to figure this thing out._

"Well I don't really know how to explain, but, this is definitely not supposed to happen." Ciel said walking ahead of me.

We finally reached the study, and Ciel opened the door slowly, as if he were trying to be cautious. To his surprise, no one was in there, I looked closer, and something just didn't feel right.

"I guess he isn't here after all." Ciel sighed.

"Hold on." I said.

"Something doesn't feel right." I continued in the room and started to observe the surroundings.

"Someone's been in here, the window isn't closed the way it was before, and there were documents on your desk wasn't there?" I asked as Ciel nodded.

"Well these are different documents; they were placed here to make it look like nothing happened. I think whoever came in here knew that you would be too agitated to even notice a difference. Sebastian isn't here, there was a murder, and someone broke in here looking for something." I stated, and Ciel was shocked at my hypothesis.

"How could you come up with something like that?" he asked.

"Well it's simple really, Sebastian is supposed to grant your every order am I correct?" Ciel nodded.

"Well it is suspicious that he hasn't showed up, he was there with you in the orphanage wasn't he?" Once again he nodded processing the information he was given.

"Someone broke in here looking for something, if not looking for something, then to take something. You are the Queen's watchdog, and have a successful company. You are bound to have enemies. The only thing I can't figure out is where Sebastian is, and why he hasn't showed himself." I finished and Ciel came into the room to observe for himself.

"You're right, someone has been here, but I don't see anything misplaced or missing. As for the documents, they are in the drawer. I left them on the desk, and the documents on the desk are-" Ciel stopped in the middle of the sentence.

"They were the plans on finding Derrick, before we had met officially, me and Sebastian got a message from the Queen about Derrick." Ciel said.

"Why would the Queen be involved with Derrick? He is a demon isn't he?" I asked.

"I didn't know he was before I actually saw for myself. In fact I was going to ask for your help; since you were going to be transferring dorms you would have a chance to get close enough to get information. We now know what Derrick is, and why he wouldn't show up in school anymore, but I don't know what we can tell the Queen." Ciel said.

Obviously the matter was very important; he does have to uphold his title.

"Let's not forget, he is contracted to me." I said.

"That's right!" Ciel said.

"This changes everything!" he shouted with happiness.

"Uh, I'm not following, care to explain?" I asked.

This whole subject just passed over my head leaving me to understand nothing. Then there was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" Ciel asked.

"It's me young master." Sebastian said from behind the door.

_Sebastian's here?_

"Come in, quickly! You have some questions to answer." Ciel said his tone was a mixture of anger and relief.

"Where were you?" I asked the demon butler that came into the room.

He looked different, like he was tired.

_Do demons get tired?_

"What happened? Did you run into Derrick?" I asked the weary demon.

"What would make you think that?" Ciel asked.

"Sebastian, you look hurt, err, well that isn't the right word I'm trying to say. You just look, like, tired or something."

I said trying to figure out the right words to describe how the demon looked.

"Yes, I did run into Derrick, trust me he put up quite a fight, but ran away afterwards. He isn't that smart, or strong. I sensed him after Ciel had ran after you." Sebastian said.

"What was he doing?" Ciel said.

"I still don't know, but he was coming from the direction of the manner." Sebastian said.

"That would explain everything!" I said.

"Derrick had broken in here, looking for our location. The documents that were originally here were on the case of the murders am I correct?" I said and both nodded.

"He must've meant to distract Sebastian while Ciel and I went for the culprit. I think he was testing us." I said.

"To see if we would be able to solve the case, and rescue the last victim." I said in a slightly lower voice, my emotions still haven't calmed down, but I was strong enough to hold them in.

"Did you manage well without me?" Sebastian asked.

"Yeah, we killed the killer, although I don't think that we accomplished anything." I said.

"What about that little boy?" Sebastian asked and Ciel coughed signaling for Sebastian not to ask about that certain subject.

"We weren't there in time." I said bluntly.

"Anyway, Ciel thought of some plan for the case with Derrick, you two talk it over, and I'll go to bed. I'm exhausted." I said with a yawn.

"Well it is 12:00 a.m., good night, or morning." Ciel said as I left.

I left the room and went directly to the room where the kitten was kept. Mey-Rin had been there to observe how he was doing.

"Oh hey Mey-Rin, how's he doing?" I asked.

"He's doing quite well yes, would you like to see him?" She asked.

"Yes I'd love to." I said overjoyed that I was allowed to see him.

_"He's my best friend, I love him." _Those words played over in my head and stung my eyes a little.

"Do you like kittens?" Mey-Rin asked snapping me out of my thoughts and back to reality.

"Huh? Oh, I guess so, I've never had any pets, and the first interaction with any animal was with one of Snake's snakes." I said.

"Oh I hope he didn't cause you any trouble, so how did you come across this little guy?" Mey-Rin asked.

"He belonged to a good friend of mine, but he can't take care of him anymore so I took him in." I said trying to hold back tears.

"What are you planning on naming him?" Mey-Rin asked.

_That's a good question. I have no clue, how to even take care of a kitten._

"I'm not so sure." I said.

"Well he is pretty cute, I'm sure you could figure something out, for now would you like to take him to your room with you? I'm sure if he is that important to you, he'd appreciate it too. I'm sure he wouldn't want to spend this night alone." Mey-Rin said happily.

"Sure. Thank you, oh um, I kind of don't know where any of my clothes are...-" I started.

"Oh don't worry about that, you'll have some clothes by tomorrow morning, for now your nightgown should be in the second drawer of your nightstand." Mey-Rin said.

"Thank you very much, goodnight, or morning." I said as I left the room with the kitten in my hands.

He had a bandage wrapped around his torso, and his fur was as black as night. I didn't get a look at any other features the first time I saw him, and Ciel was allergic to cats.

_How was I supposed to keep a kitten without Ciel getting irritated? _

"Oh well he is just going to have to put up with it." I said as I went into my guest room.

I changed into my nightgown and put my hair in two braids.

"Looks like we are going to have a long day ahead of us since I'm going to be the new apprentice of the Queen's guard dog."

I set the kitten next to me and fell asleep.

_Who knew that I'd be solving crimes for the Queen? I guess I've got a lot of work to do. Maybe being contracted to Derrick isn't such a bad thing. Why did I think it was bad in the first place? I was willing to do everything before Ciel showed up. Argh! Never mind I just won't think about this, I'm tired._

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I feel like a terrible person for this chapter, a good friend of mine was balling her eyes out when she read it. She called me heartless, but she still loves reading which makes me happy, please don't hate me for this chapter, and keep reviewing! =^w^=


	8. Chapter 8

A/N Sorry guys for the late-ness I honestly have no excuse for having this done so late, just mind-blocks and procrastination so anyway hope you guys like and I'll be working on the next Ch. as soon as possible!

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**Ch.8**

I woke up to the feeling of something warm on my face. To my surprise, the kitten was literally sleeping on my face.

_Well then, someone here slept comfortably I suppose._ I thought to myself and then moved the cat.

"Nice friend you got there." a familiar voice said.

I turned and looked at the direction the voice came from. Derrick was sitting on a chair next to the window.

"What are you doing here?" I asked astonished.

"I've been here all night, observing your thoughts. So you finally realized I'm not the bad guy here?" Derrick said amusement filled his voice as he spoke each word.

"I wouldn't get to ahead of yourself Derrick; you were the one who was responsible for Elliot's death." I said anger filled my thoughts.

"No need to think such nasty things about me, after all it is an honor to have been chosen by me to be your contractor." Derrick said.

"How do you know what I'm thinking?" I asked.

"Well you see, I can't read minds or anything that's absurd, I can just, feel it." Derrick said standing up from his chair and walking towards me.

"Well that's a vague answer." I said.

"Then again you always leave your prey with no information don't you?" I muttered.

The kitten started to growl at the Derrick.

"Huh? What's wrong?" I said as I stretched out a hand to pet the kitten.

He just kept growling.

_He didn't act this way near Sebastian. So why Derrick?_

"I guess animals just don't like me." Derrick said.

"Anyway, get ready, I'll meet you out by the garden in five minutes, it would be best if we were alone." Derrick finished then vanished out the window.

"He does realize there was a door right there right?" I said.

I looked through the drawers and found clothes, "Thanks god! Now I don't have to wear shorts anymore, it is winter anyways." I pulled out what looked like a navy blue shirt, only to notice that it was a dress.

_You're kidding me right. Maybe I should have specified what kind of clothes I would have liked. _

I looked for any other type of clothes but they were all the same, dresses, frills, ruffles, nothing normal. I ran to the closet across the room only to find shoes, accessories, and stockings.

"You have got to be kidding me right? Damn this!" I yelled softly.

I put on a violet long-sleeved dress, some black knee length boots. I wrapped a bandage around my neck to hide the seal, and just let my hair down, it was wavy like always and seemed to just fall naturally.

"Well at least I won't be that cold." I said and made my way to the garden.

I noticed that the kitten had been following me; he was going pretty slow, so I just waited for him to catch up and then picked him up. He leaped from my hands and then rested on my shoulder.

"I guess he does like me." I said to myself.

I finally made my way to the garden, and Derrick was waiting there by the gate.

"What's with that outfit?" He chuckled.

He was wearing black jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt.

"Sorry if I left all my clothes behind when you attacked me." I said annoyed at his comment.

"Why did you have to bring that?" Derrick asked pointing to the kitten on my shoulder, which had been glaring at the demon.

"He seems to be a good judge of character, so what did you want?" I asked Derrick who seemed agitated at the kitten's presence.

"Is he really bothering you that much, come on, I don't have time to waste." I said trying not to say anything about Ciel plotting something.

"The Queen seems to be worried about you; does she know you're a demon?" I asked.

Derrick shuddered in surprise.

"How do you about that?" He asked.

"Well I am helping out the Queen's guard dog, so I know a lot." I said.

"By the way, I need you to introduce yourself to the others." I said motioning Derrick to follow me back to the manner.

"Like hell I'll go." He said and was starting to walk the other way.

"Derrick get your ass back here!" I demanded, to my surprise he stopped dead in his tracks and walked toward me.

_That's right he has to obey my every command! Maybe this had to do with something in Ciel's plan._

"Tch! I'm not going to go with you." he said.

'_Damn, at this rate I'm going to be screwed over, I just need to make her think otherwise. I knew she was an interesting person to be contracted, but I didn't know that she would help out that damn dog. I need to get her to stop working with him._'Derrick thought to himself.

"Actually you are, you are my servant, so you have to obey my every command." I said as a smirk crept up the side of my face.

"What makes you think I will?" Derrick said.

I started to untie the bandage around my neck. Once it was off it started to glow red along with the one on Derrick's hand.

"This seal which represents our contract, like you said the more visible the mark, the powerful the bond." I said.

This did not please the demon; I could sense the anger throughout him.

"Well what are you waiting for, come on." I said and a chuckle escaped my mouth.

'_This little brat._'Derrick thought.

He started to follow me and once I reached Ciel's study, the door flew open and Sebastian flew out of the room with knives at hand, and then threw them at my direction.

_S-Sebas-?!_

Everything went by so fast that all I could do was stand there. It felt like the world froze for a second, and then I snapped back to reality to see a puddle of blood at my feet.

_Blood?_ I opened my eyes to see Derrick standing in front of me, his arms stretched outwards.

"Derrick?" I asked and the demon turned to face away from me and at Sebastian.

"Would you refrain from harming Clarissa?" he said to Sebastian who was speechless.

"What's going on?" Ciel asked from inside the study.

"Derrick, you're hurt." I said looking at the knives that were stabbed into his back.

"This is nothing." He then took out the knives and wiped the blood off his hands.

"I'm sorry. I just felt the presence of another demon and reacted as I would for any intruder." Sebastian said apologetically to me.

"Its fine, I'm not hurt at all." I said.

"Yeah well what about me?!" Derrick said annoyed at the fact Sebastian hadn't apologized to him yet.

"Oh that's right," Sebastian started and Derrick stood there waiting for his apology.

"A letter from the Queen arrived not too long ago." Sebastian said with a grin.

I walked into the study and Derrick quietly followed.

"What does it say?" I asked impatiently as I hovered over Ciel trying to read the letter.

After all, I was taller than him, who wasn't?

"Could you refrain from that?" Ciel asked annoyed at the fact that I kept pestering him to tell me the news.

"Fine. Just tell me what it says!" I said sitting across from his desk.

"How are you feeling?" I asked Derrick who had been leaning against the wall the whole time.

"Tch! I'm fine, just annoyed." Derrick responded glaring at Sebastian who just stood smirking deviously at the annoyed demon.

"What day is it today?" Ciel asked Sebastian.

"Oh, it's the 23rd." Sebastian said to Ciel.

"Wow the 23rd already? Christmas Eve is just a day away." I said.

"Why do you need to know?" I asked Ciel who was still staring at the letter.

"The Queen is inviting us to her Christmas Eve ball." Ciel said.

"She wants to meet the one who solved the case about the several murders." Ciel said again.

_She wants to meet me? But I didn't even solve the case; well I did, but not really. _

"I don't see any problem with it, but what do we do about Derrick? What exactly did the Queen want with Derrick?" I asked Ciel who was standing from his chair.

"I'll think of something, all she wanted was to make sure he was safe. Derrick you didn't attend many of your classes for a period of time right? Nor did you visit your family." Ciel asked Derrick.

"No, I was busy searching for the right person to form a contract with, so I'd been watching this brat for quite some time." Derrick said annoyed.

"Hey!" I yelled.

"Oh then it would be no problem for you to attend the ball right?" Ciel said with a smirk as he and Sebastian left the room.

"Damn!" Derrick said angrily.

"What's wrong with going? And why did you call me a brat, I once came from a pretty prestigious family myself you know!" I said.

"Oh really? Well I'm very sorry, Countess Brat." He said in amusement to tease me.

"That's Countess Stonewell to you! If you thought that I was just all smarts, then you were wrong. I thought you said you did research before choosing your prey." I said to the demon that was still leaning lazily against the wall ignoring my rant.

"Of course I know your background. I just want to tease you a bit, so what are you going to do now?" Derrick asked.

"Well my family did own several companies, but I don't know much about them. My parent's died when I was young, the Queen sent for me to go to this school, so I did. I major in many things that will help me find the murderers. Now that I serve under the Queen, I think I'll continue what I do for now." I said to Derrick who listened to every word, he looked extremely amused.

"What a waste of talent, but I still believe you are definitely interesting indeed." Derrick said straightening his posture and walking towards the door.

"Well how long do you plan on staying here, don't you have to plan on what you're going to wear or something?" Derrick asked.

_He isn't such a bad guy is he? He's really showing his true colors when it's just me and him, I wonder why he is trying to hide his true self. I guess I shouldn't pry; after all I have no business to be in his past. He is just another tool to help me get what it is I want. _

"Hey, Derrick." I called to the demon that had walked far ahead of me.

"What do you want?" he asked slowing his pace for me to catch up.

"Why didn't you go visit your family, I'm sure they were worried about you." I asked and he sighed deeply.

"I just didn't feel like it, I am a demon, and I didn't know if I should've gone or not, so I just didn't." He said bluntly.

"I'm gonna go take a nap." Derrick said yawning.

"I thought demons don't sleep?" I said confused.

"Normally they don't, but those are the demons that have lived for a long time, I've been turned not too long ago, and besides it's a choice." Derrick said turning to the hall with guest rooms.

"It's already 1 in the afternoon though." I said in a low voice.

_How does he know his way around here anyway? I guess he took his time when he was snooping around her?_

"Oh that's right I haven't met any other staff here."

_I wonder what kind of people there are here I mean there was Snake, but Mey-Rin seemed pretty normal. I'm sure that there aren't that many unusual people here. _

I turned to the hall where all the servants stayed, it was quite big.

"Let's see, there is Mey-Rin's room, Bard? Finnian? Tanaka? Wow, there are a lot of people here. I wonder where Snake stays."

I looked to the corner of the hall and saw something move in the shadows.

"Huh? What's that?" I quickly ran to the corner before it disappeared from sight.

"Oh it's you." I said as I saw the familiar snake.

"You helped me last time; I'd like to thank you for that. Would you mind showing me to Snake, so I could thank you properly? I still don't know your name." I said to the snake which led me down the hall.

"Wow you really know your way around here huh? I still get lost on the way to my room."

The snake stopped in front of a door which had been located on the far end of the hall. I knocked on the door lightly to make sure that someone had been in there.

"Who is it? Says Emily." I heard Snake say.

"It's-" I started before I was abruptly cut-off.

"Oh Clarissa, come in. Says Wordsworth." Snake said.

"How'd you know it was me?" I asked as I opened the door.

_Holy mother of god!_

Once I opened the door to Snake's room, there was an abundance of snakes scattered everywhere.

"It wasn't hard, says Wordsworth. Dan told us. Says Wordsworth." Snake said.

"Dan?" I asked confused at the name given.

"Yes, I am Dan, says Dan." Snake said motioning the snake next to me to come inside.

"Oh so his name is Dan." I said leaning against the door.

"You can come in if you'd like to. Says Dan."

"No thank you, I just wanted to thank you properly for helping me out. I want to meet more people around here, so I'll see you guys around." I said turning away and closing the door.

_A room full of snakes…well that's normal-ish right? For him it is I guess._

I walked out of the servants' quarters and found myself deep in the manor. There was a room for practicing to shoot firearms, a room filled with books, and another room that I couldn't quite make-out what it was. I opened the door to find large sandbags hanging from the ceiling.

_How lovely, to think such a refined home would have something like this. Well considering he is the Queen's guard dog, he must have had to have some training. But looking at him it looks like he wouldn't even be able to move that big of a sandbag no matter how much force he puts into his blows. Using a gun, well that is his strongpoint. At least I found the library, maybe that's where he does research and such. _

"Well I've spent enough time down here; I'll go see what everyone else is up to." I went out of the manor and explored outside.

After all the land surrounding the manor was just as big as the manor itself, actually bigger.

_So many gardens in here, I wonder what kind of person could tend to them, they must be really responsible, and uptight. _

I turned at the corner to roam along the other side to find someone on a ladder trimming the trees.

_Huh, that wasn't so hard. I think I should let them do their work, I wouldn't want to interrupt. _

The person on the ladder glanced over in my direction and in a flash he was down and running toward me.

_Holy crap! How did he get down that quickly?! _

I then tried to think of a place to hide but it was already too late, the boy was already an arms' length away from me.

"U-Uh Hello." I said unsteadily.

"Are you alright? The last time I saw you, you were so pale. What happened? Do you feel better?" the boy asked.

_Wow he talks fast, and asks a lot of questions. _

"Y-Yeah, I feel fine, a lot better actually, and um, I'm not quite sure what happened exactly." I said to the curious boy in front of me.

"S-So you're the gardener here huh?" I said trying to think of another topic.

"Huh? Oh yeah, the name's Finnian, you can call me Finny." he said with a smile.

He stood up straight and I noticed that he was taller than me, not by much but he still was. His hair was a golden blond and he had bobby pins parting his bangs. He had big green eyes and a smile so big.

"My name's Clarissa, you can call me Clary if you'd like, Finny." I said returning a smile, which made his eyes light up.

"Now we can be friends!" He shouted and grabbed my hand leading me somewhere.

"Uh where are we going?" I asked as he started to run faster.

"I want you to meet everyone else!" He said elated.

He kept on running and I tried to keep up with his pace. He stopped in front of what looked like part of a cage, but the other half was underground.

"Plu-Plu!" Finny yelled into the bars.

He got a growl in response.

"U-Uh I don't think whatever is down there likes me so much maybe I should go." I said trying to release is grip on my wrist.

He didn't budge.

"That's weird Plu-Plu doesn't act this way towards people." Finny said trying to figure this out in his head.

Meanwhile I heard a sort of hiss near my ear.

"Oh, does this Plu-Plu not like cats?" I asked motioning towards the kitten on my shoulder.

"What a cutie I didn't even notice him!" Finny said eyeing the feline on my shoulder.

"Plu-Plu doesn't like him I guess." Finny said.

"I think they can get along right?" I said

"Who is this Plu-Plu?" I asked trying to see inside of the dark cage.

"I'll take him out, you just wait." Finny said running off in another direction.

"I guess he is a dog or something considering he doesn't like cats' that reminds me, I can't keep calling you kitty forever right? Hopefully you don't get on the wrong foot with Plu-Plu." I said grabbing the kitten from my shoulder and holding him in front of me.

He purred softly as I pet his head then leaped from my arms and in the direction of where Plu-Plu was kept.

"H-Hey! Wait!" I said running after him.

_Geez! How much more trouble are you going to put me through! _

I quickly caught the kitten before he reached the bars.

"You're a real gym you know!" I said scolding the cat.

"Maybe I should call you that from now on." I said to the kitten and the kitten meowed in acceptance to the name he was given.

I walk away from the bars, waiting for Finny, to come back.

_Now that I think about what kind of animal would they have to keep confined in an underground cage, with such a little opening? _

Before I could give it more thought Finny came into sight, it looked like he was having trouble with whatever was on the other side of the leash he held.

"Hey Finny, need any help?" I yelled so that he could hear me.

"No need!" he yelled back and pulled forward.

He sent the thing on the other end flying throw the sky. I only caught a glimpse of what it was, well it was silver looking. After a few seconds, he came back down but a lot closer than where he originally was.

"What's that!?" I yelled looking at the silver figure fall from the sky.

"It's Pluto; well I call him Plu-Plu." Finny said standing ready to catch it.

"You're not going to try to catch it are you!?" I asked still looking toward the sky as the figure grew bigger and bigger.

_It's like a gigantic wolf or something!_

"I suggest you move away a few feet Miss Clary." Finny said his arms still outward to catch the wolf-like dog thing.

At this point I couldn't really tell the difference. I quickly ran to the side waiting for what was next. The silver wolf came down faster and faster until it finally came down. I didn't see what happened next, because we were surrounded by dust and dirt. Once it finally cleared up the wolf wasn't there anymore.

"I could've sworn…that there was a giant wolf here right now." I said choking on the remaining dust in the air.

All there was, was Finny and a man next to him. He had red eyes and silver-white hair.

"Aww Plu-Plu did you have to turn back?" Finny said frowning at the man next to him.

"T-That's Pluto?" I tried to ask steadily, raising a shaking finger to point at the man.

"Yup." Finny said with a pout.

"It's much more fun when he is in his wolf form though." He continued.

"S-So he can turn into a wolf and a human?" I asked still amazed at what happened.

_Who the hell are these people, Finny has inhuman strength, Pluto a dog, err, human, thing. Snake has a room of snakes and he looks like a snake himself. I think the only normal person here is Mey-Rin despite her always happy state. _

"He doesn't bite come on closer!" Finny said motioning me to come closer.

I did, walking with caution, there was still some debris from when the wolf form of Pluto hit the ground. Now that I was closer I could see that Pluto was uncomfortable with Gynx. I put Gynx down next to me and told him to stay, not like he would listen, but this time he did surprisingly. Pluto looked at me, like if he were deducing if I were trustworthy or not.

"H-Hi." I said to Pluto who was still unsure.

He then smiled and gave a friendly growl.

"He likes you." Finny said petting the top of Pluto's head, which made him howl with affection.

"Well I better get going; I need to ask Ciel about the plans for tomorrow." I said picking up Gynx and turned to Finny who was playing with Pluto.

"Alrighty! If you ever wanna hang out I'll be here!" Finny said as he waved goodbye.

I then quickly ran off to avoid any other surprises. Was there such things? As 'no surprises' in this place, of course not. When I got back into the Manor, it seemed empty. I looked around to find any sign of life but there wasn't anyone. Then I bumped into someone.

"Ow!" A familiar voice said.

"U-Uh sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going." I said apologetically.

"It's alright." Mey-Rin said.

"Oh, Mey-Rin, it's just you. Where is everyone?" I asked wondering where everyone had gone.

"Oh they are in the front parlor. Ciel's fiancée, Elizabeth, came for a visit." Mey-Rin said.

"Oh maybe I should avoid there then, I wouldn't want any misunderstandings now would I?" I said.

"Good idea, just go straight, and then make a right turn at the nearest study from here, and you should be at your room without passing the parlor." Mey-Rin said.

"Thanks!" I said as I ran quicker than usual.

_I didn't know Ciel had a fianc_é_? I wonder what she's like, but I can't run into her right now. _

"She said to make a left turn right?" I said trying to remember what the maid's instructions were.

"No it was right, or was it? Argh! I'll just go with left. That's the first thing that comes into my mind anyway." I quietly ran faster and made the left turn.

I was at a dead end but there was a door on the side.

"I'm sure that's the way I have to go right?" I said as I opened the door.

When I fully went in I could've sworn I was in hell.

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Hope you guys like it! Please review and keep reading!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Hi there! I'm doing my best to get these chapters on faster so wish me luck!

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**Ch.9**

It was bright inside the room, decorated with so many things that Ciel would despise. I noticed that there was a girl in there, she was pretty, probably the same height as me, but she looked nothing like me. Her hair was blond, and her cheeks were rosy, she had the biggest and brightest smile on her face that I had ever seen.

"Huh? Who's this?" She asked looking in my direction.

"Crap! I think I'm in the front parlor aren't I?" I tried to open the door, but no matter how much I turned the knob it wouldn't budge.

_Crap, Crap, Crap, Crap! I think that's Elizabeth! _

Gynx jumped of my shoulder and scurried towards the blonde

"Crap! Gynx come back." I whispered to the mischievous kitten who didn't listen.

"Damn it of all the times!" I hissed under my breath.

The blond ran in my direction.

_That's it I'm doomed. I'm dead, my life is over._

"What happened to your dress!?" The blonde said looking at me.

I looked at it too. It was fully covered in dust, and bits of dirt and grass.

"O-Oh I didn't even notice." I said, patting some of the dust off.

"I'm sorry for intruding I'll be on my way now." I said motioning for Gynx to return to my side.

"Huh? Why? No one said you were intruding, why don't you stay for the ball?" She said

"Ball?" I asked not knowing what she was talking about.

"Yeah this right here, I decorated it so that I could surprise Ciel. My name's Elizabeth, call me Lizzie." Elizabeth said.

"Oh yeah, Mey-Rin told me about you." I said.

"Yup! Now let's get you out of those dirty clothes." Elizabeth said grabbing me and pulling me towards another woman.

"This is Paula; she will be helping you for now. Paula, please get her nice and cute please." Elizabeth said.

_Good lord, what's going to happen now? _

Paula led me to the nearest guest room and ran a bath.

"I'll be back with some change of clothes, please relax." She said.

_Well at least she's nice. _

I managed to get all the dirt out of my hair and then realized that Gynx was missing.

"I shouldn't be too worried. He'll turn up." I got out of the bath and Paula was waiting there with a large variety of frilly dresses. I quickly covered the demon seal on my neck.

"U-Uh isn't there anything, less flashy?" I asked staring a pink dress was suffocating to just look at.

"Let me check.' she said leaving the room.

_At times like this I really wish I had my normal clothes. _

Paula came back with a short sleeved dress that was black with a blue lining.

"That's fine." I said and Paula put the dress down with the others.

"What are you doing?" I asked confused.

"We have to first put your corset on." She said looking through a drawer.

"C-Corset?!" I said scared when she took out what looked like a torture device.

"I-I'm fine really, j-just put the dress on, there isn't any need f-for that! I-It's not like this is an event for nobles!" I said backing away from her.

Some time passed afterwards, Paula managed to trap me in that damned corset and fitted it tightly. I could hardly walk, or even breathe; she helped me into the dress, and knee socks. She left my hair down, but took two pieces from each side and brought them to the back of my head. She placed a blue bow to keep them in place and trimmed my bangs a little to keep them from covering my eyes. Finally the torture was over and I slipped on some black shoes. I made sure she didn't get even a peek at the mark on my neck and I put on a choker so that no one would notice.

"My lady, wouldn't you like a simple necklace instead of the choker?" Paula asked holding up a beautiful blue pendant.

"N-No thank you, I think that this looks better. After all it is blue with black lace, I should be fine. Let's go, I don't want to keep Elizabeth waiting." I said trying to avoid the question.

We finally left the room and walked to the parlor. It was even more like hell than I'd ever imagine. It looked like a rainbow threw up sparkles.

"Oh my you look adorable!" Elizabeth said squeezing me in an unbreakable hug.

"T-Thanks Elizabeth." I said trying to breath.

"Please call me Lizzie, what's your name? I never got a chance to ask you." Elizabeth said.

"Oh yeah, it's Clarissa." I said trying to escape her hug.

She wasn't letting go any time soon.

"That's a lovely name." she said squeezing me tighter.

_I can't breathe with this corset, let alone Elizabeth squeezing my lungs out! Someone stop her already!_

She finally broke away and I bent slightly to catch my breath.

_FINALLY!_

"Oh Ciel isn't this lovely!" I heard Elizabeth say.

I looked up to see Ciel being glomped by Elizabeth the same way she did to me, but this time it looked like she were squeezing him twice as hard.

_Poor him, oh well! At least that isn't me. _I thought and chuckled.

"Clary? What are you doing here?" Ciel asked and broke away from Elizabeth with ease.

"I kind of, got caught up in this by accident." I said amazed at how effortless it was to break from Elizabeth's hold.

I heard a muffled sound from behind me and turned to look. It was Gynx, with a dark blue bow wrapped around his neck, and he was covered in colorful glitter.

"So this is where you were, being thrown up on by a rainbow?" I said picking up the kitten and patting some of the glitter off.

I turned back around when Elizabeth called my name.

"Come over here." She said.

I walked over to where they were and noticed that Derrick was waiting by the door.

"Hey Derrick, you're awake now." I said. He looked like he barely got up.

"Yeah, Sebastian over here made me look for you, I didn't know you were being held hostage." He said irritated.

"Well I wouldn't say hostage." I said in a light tone.

"Anyway, why don't we begin?" Elizabeth said dragging Ciel to the middle of the floor and danced to the music playing.

I just walked to where Derrick and Sebastian stood.

"So do you guys have any idea on what we are going to do tomorrow?" I muttered.

"Someone doesn't seem to happy now do they?" Derrick purred.

"I've been through more than you can imagine, so I suggest you stay quiet." I hissed back.

Sebastian chuckled lightly.

"Well aren't you two quite the pair now?" he murmured trying not to draw any attention to the three of us.

"Well, considering the Queen will be there, since Derrick is her nephew, she will want an explanation." Sebastian murmured again.

"You're her nephew?!" I hissed at Derrick.

"Yeah, yeah. I never told you for this reason anyway, what do we do?" Derrick mumbled back at the butler.

"You are going to have to act like Clarissa's guardian. Since you are her elder, at school I mean, just say that you were assigned to look after her. You didn't go to classes because you had to show her around and tutor her. You never went back home, because she didn't have a place to stay, so you took her in." Sebastian said the answers to any possible question that would have been asked.

My face started to get hot as I held back a blush.

_Guardian, look after, took me in?_

Everything just rushed over my head in an instant.

"Tch. Fine, it's not like I want to go back anyway, but don't you think that she would want to know where I was staying?" Derrick asked.

"Good idea, I think you should just say that you stay with Clarissa at the school." Sebastian said.

"Now for the ball tomorrow, you mustn't say a word to Elizabeth, understand?" Sebastian said, mainly focusing on me.

"Oh don't worry about that, I could hardly even speak with this corset on." I said.

"You do know how to dance right?" Sebastian asked Derrick.

"Yes of course I am the Queens nephew after all." He said.

"What about Miss Stonewell over there." Derrick said with a smirk, he knew that I was trying to avoid that question and shuddered when Sebastian asked Derrick first.

"U-Uh, I do, of course I do...No I don't." I muttered.

"Well this is a big problem, and you must keep your guard up as well, Mey-Rin and I will be training you once this is over, actually, we can start after this." Sebastian said with a smirk as he pushed me and Derrick toward the dance floor to join Ciel and Elizabeth.

"W-Wait! Sebastian! Damn it!" I said in a hushed tone.

"That damn bastard!" Derrick also said as he and I stumbled to the middle of the floor.

It was too late to retreat now. "I guess it can't be helped, shall we?" Derrick said with a sigh and extended a hand to me.

"I-I don't know how, trust me." I said.

"Don't you get it? He did this so you could learn how after you get the hang of it, we are going to do other training necessary." Derrick said.

I took his hand and he placed my other hand on his shoulder and put his hand on my waist.

I shuddered a bit then he whispered steps so that I followed. Luckily, I didn't step on his foot, but I tripped over my own the majority of the time. He seemed to catch me each time, and straightened my posture when it was wrong. He led very well and after a while I caught on, I think we were doing a classic waltz. Once the music ended, I was already tired, and my head spun a little.

"You can't possibly be tired, come on!" Derrick said.

"If you were wearing as tight a corset as me, you'd understand. Come one before another song starts." I said dragging him away from the dance floor.

"Quite splendid, you did much better than I imagined." Sebastian said.

"Now there should be some clothes in your room waiting for you, change into them, and both of you meet me in the study."

"What about Ciel?" I asked.

"Don't worry; I'm sure Lady Elizabeth will keep him busy." Sebastian said with a smirk as he led us out.

"Okay, I'll be back in a bit." I said as I ran toward the room.

Once I finally got there, I quickly changed out of the clothes I was wearing and picked up the ones that were left for me.

"Thank god Sebastian was the one to pick out the clothes." I said as I put on a t-shirt and pants.

I took of the bow from the back of my head and put my hair up in a pony-tail.

"Damn, since we have guests over, I can't have my seal showing." I quickly wrapped a bandage around my neck and slipped on some shoes.

_Time to start training; I've got a long way ahead of me. _

I ran into the hall and headed for the study. Derrick had been waiting at the end of the hallway; his facial expression looked annoyed, or agitated.

"Derrick, you okay?" I asked as I came closer to the demon.

"Here you forgot this." He said handing me Gynx.

"Oh woops, I guess he slipped my mind." I said grabbing the kitten from his grasp.

"You don't like cats very much do you?" I asked as we started walking to the study.

"I don't really care about animals, but no matter how much I tried to be friendly to that thing, it just growled and scratched me." Derrick said.

"Sorry about that, but it's not my fault that he doesn't like you, he seemed to get along very well with others." I said lifting the kitten to my shoulder, and he wrapped around my neck, scratching at the bandage.

We finally got to the study where Sebastian had waited for us.

"Good to see you here, now let's go." He said coming out of the room.

"We shall be training in the lower rooms you visited earlier." Sebastian said to me directly.

"Oh you knew I was looking around huh?" I asked.

"Don't worry I didn't do anything wrong on my little adventure earlier." I said making sure I hadn't done anything to upset the demon butler.

"Oh I know you didn't, I was just making sure you didn't get hurt." Sebastian said with a smile.

"So why do you need me here?" Derrick asked irritated.

"Even though you may be a demon, you need to train as well, last time you didn't hold up for too long in our fight." Sebastian said smirking at Derrick.

"Well it was kind of a surprise to me to you know." Derrick hissed.

Gynx purred softly then jumped from my shoulder to Derrick.

"Hey get this thing off me!" Derrick yelled trying to shoo away the kitten.

Gynx hissed and then bit at his shoulder.

"Maybe he doesn't like you because you throw a fit whenever he gets near you!" I said prying Gynx of his shoulder.

"I didn't know that you were so good with animals." Sebastian said his face lighting up.

"Oh that's right you like cats don't you Sebastian?" I asked handing Gynx to the butler.

He took the cat in his arms without a second thought.

"Ah, here we are." Sebastian said as we were in the familiar hallway.

"Clarissa, you will start off with Mey-Rin in this room." Sebastian said opening one of the doors.

"Derrick, you will be training with Finnian in the last door on the right side of the hall." Sebastian said stroking the Gynx's fur.

"Wait, I know Finny is strong and all, but don't you think it'd be better if _you_ trained with him?" I asked.

"Also, why am I training with Mey-Rin?" I said confused about the whole idea.

"Don't worry; the Phantomhive servants are very, capable. But I will take one of your suggestions to consideration. Derrick if you'd follow me please." Sebastian said leading Derrick to one of the rooms.

Naturally I went into the room that I was directed to and waited for instructions. The room was a lot bigger than it appeared on the outside, and it was filled with guns, bullets, and targets.

"U-Uh I can see where Ciel spends his free time." There was a knock at the door.

"It's Mey-Rin, Clary, are you there?" Mey-Rin asked.

"Yeah, I'm in here." I replied.

The maid came in and closed the door.

"Alright, it's time to start." She said taking of her glasses and revealing dark brown eyes.

Her eyes looked as if she were ready to kill, she grabbed to pistols from the wall and handed me some earplugs.

"Pay close attention." she said tossing me one of the pistols.

I caught the pistol with ease, but there was a pit in my stomach as I did.

"U-Uh, are you, uh sure?" I asked trying to hold the object.

Mey-Rin said nothing; she just fixed my grasp on the pistol and pushed me forward to one of the targets.

"Try shooting at the chest target first." Mey-Rin said shooting three times and hitting the target perfectly.

I stared in awe for a moment, but snapped back into reality when Mey-Rin called my name.

"Just relax, and shoot." She reminded me as I went into position. I took a deep breath and fired my first bullet, just as I expected, it missed completely.

"I knew I wouldn't be able to shoot as well as you." I muttered.

"It's alright, the faster we keep going the more practice you'll get." She said.

"Okay." I murmured under my breath.

I shot again, and this time it hit a lot closer to the target. Not exactly on the spot, but very close.

"Good, try it a few more times until you get three in a row, once that's done, we will move on to many other things." Mey-Rin said patting my shoulder.

I fired another shot, and hit it perfectly.

"Yes!" I whispered to myself as I fired another shot.

Once again it hit the target,

_Yes! Looks like I'm not that bad after all! _

"Just one more right?" I asked Mey-Rin who reluctantly nodded back at me.

I fired another shot, which missed. My mouth hung open in disbelief.

"I-I was so close. D-Do I have to start over?"

I asked with a weak grin on my face.

"Yep." Mey-Rin said.

"R-Right." I said with a sigh.

**Demon training:**

_Down the hall was another story_…

"Damn you!" Derrick screamed at Sebastian who didn't look like he was breaking a sweat.

"Tired already? We barely started." Sebastian teased.

"Barely starting?! We've been at this for 30 minutes already!" Derrick hissed.

Sebastian threw a few knives at Derrick, and Derrick managed to dodge each one. Derrick lunged for Sebastian, who moved with little effort, causing Derrick to hit the wall with an abundance of force.

"Bastard." Derrick hissed and winced at the sudden pain.

"Come on, you can at least control your speed." Sebastian said smirking in amusement.

"Maybe we should stop here; after all, I was just playing." Sebastian said.

"W-What? You had no intention in training me in the first place?!" Derrick yelled in fury at Sebastian.

"Of course not, you are a strong fighter, and your defense is high as well. What else did you think you needed help on, besides working with people, that is?" Sebastian said with a smile.

"You've got to be kidding me." Derrick muttered.

"It's about time for Clarissa to be done with one part of her training, time to go help her with part two." Sebastian said picking up Gynx who had been quietly sitting in the corner.

"Part two of what?" Derrick asked.

"Part two of her training, unlike you; she does need to improve on a lot. Mainly on the amount of force she puts into physical attacks, which is basically all she really needs just to be on the safe side." Sebastian said.

"Do you really think that there will be any problems while we are there? I mean yes it's the Queen, but if she is going to meet some girl then I'm sure there isn't any threat." Derrick said.

"You can never be too sure, and this isn't just some girl we are talking about." Sebastian said smirking as he began to set things up in the room."

"What are those for?" Derrick asked pointing at the chains.

"You'll find out soon enough." Sebastian whispered.

**Meanwhile:**

"That is the end of this course." Mey-Rin said grinning.

"You did a remarkable job at this, your accuracy is striking, and your speed is stunningly fast." Mey-Rin said.

"Thanks!" I replied with joy.

"That's it right?" I asked hoping that I'd be able to sleep.

"Nope, please go into the next room on the left, and Sebastian should be waiting." She said.

"O-Okay." I said depressed as I slowly left the room.

_What more do I have to do?! It was hard enough to shoot at targets, not to mention some were moving!_

I went into the room to see Sebastian and Derrick waiting there.

"Good to see you, how was your first set of training?" Sebastian asked.

"Set? You mean there is more?!" I asked outraged at the amount of prep I was going to get.

"Remember this is just a ball we're going to!" I yelled exhausted from shooting a gun and having to dance in a killer corset.

"Yes, yes, I know this is a lot, but it is necessary for you since you are going to help with these cases once we get approval from the Queen. After all she wants to meet you personally, so she must have some interest in you. Now then step over here please." Sebastian said motioning toward a table.

"Wrap these bandages around your hands tightly." he instructed.

I wrapped the bandages and waited for further instructions.

"Now, you see this here? I want you to hit it as hard as you can." Sebastian said pointing at the cylinder-shaped sandbag hanging from a chain.

I burst out in laughter once I saw it.

"What's so funny?" Derrick asked then froze in his tracks.

"What the hell-Sebastian what kind of joke is that?!" Derrick said pointing at the face drawn on the bag.

"Care to explain why my face is on that!?" He yelled outraged at the demon butler who just giggled in amusement.

"Well I had to have a little fun." Sebastian said.

"I'm fine with that." I said laughing as I started to punch the bag.

"See, it helps the training doesn't it?" Sebastian said to Derrick who just threw a round sandbag at him.

"Hey Derrick! I don't mind you trying to kill Sebastian, but don't hurt Gynx!" I yelled and Derrick dropped the sandbag he was about to throw.

"Damn cat." Derrick muttered.

Sebastian grinned, still holding Gynx. I kept lashing out at my target, but I just didn't know what I was trying to accomplish.

"Hey Sebastian, what's the point of this?" I asked still hitting it.

"The point of it is to land enough blows to knock it down." Sebastian said.

"You don't have to though-"

Derrick quickly interrupted.

"Hah! You actually think she can handle that? I bet she couldn't even put a dent in it." Derrick said laughing.

"You better shut the hell up before I go over there and do it for you." I hissed glaring at Derrick who took my words in consideration and stopped talking.

I looked at the bag and saw Derrick's face and started to land blows that I couldn't imagine doing. I realized why Sebastian put Derrick's face on it; he knew I'd get mad at him sooner or later. I threw punches and started to kick as well. It seemed like at least half an hour until the bag fell with a loud thump to the floor.

"H-How's that?" I asked catching my breath.

Sweat dripped from my forehead and my face felt hot.

_I think I might've overworked myself just a little. _

"Is that it for training?" I asked Sebastian who just stared in disbelief, Derrick handed him a five dollar bill and snapped him back into reality.

I hung my head down and started to shake.

"Hey, you alright?" Derrick asked standing up.

"You, were betting on whether I knocked it down or not? So, looks like you lost huh?" I said picking my head back up and gave him a look that could murder puppies.

"I will promise, that you two, are going to live through hell tonight." I said again trembling with rage.

"Maybe I'll spare Sebastian, but that doesn't mean Ciel can't do his own punishments. Derrick, when you sleep, do you have nightmares?" I asked grinning slightly.

"N-No why?" He asked backing away slightly.

"Looks like you won't be sleeping well after I'm done with you." I said as I ran as quickly as I could and landed a blow to his face knocking him back to the wall.

"Alright, that sums it up for training." Sebastian said opening the door and letting me out first.

"Looks like you have quite the mistress now don't you?" Sebastian asked Derrick who had gotten up and wiped the blood of his cheek.

_'This isn't my blood.'_ He thought.

"Shut up already!" Derrick said leaving the room.

"That bastard! I swear I will make him pay." I muttered under my breath trying not to attract any attention.

My hand throbbed from hitting Derrick; I was surprised I even knocked him back. He wasn't the kind of person to be easily struck like that, I must've caught him off guard, and even Sebastian was surprised. Tears formed in my eyes and ran down my cheeks as I slid by the room where Ciel was probably being tortured by Elizabeth. It was pretty quiet in there, but I decided not to look, I felt horrible as it is. I felt something drip from my hand and noticed my hand was bleeding.

"When did that happen?"

_I knew I shouldn't have hit him. Now look where it's gotten me, why am I even crying though, I should've known that he wouldn't think I could do it, but I didn't think he'd bet money. _

"That damn bastard!" I said slamming my bloody fist on the wall.

The tears dripping down my face fell in streams, and my hand hurt like hell. I heard someone move from inside the walls.

_Oh crap!_

The door opened and Ciel came out.

"Clary? What's the matter?" He asked and I just face away from him.

"It's nothing, I-" I started trying to hide the fact that I was crying.

"I was just, training a bit." I finished then started to walk past him hanging my head low.

As I walked past him he quickly grabbed my wrist and pulled me back. I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw him staring at my hand that was bleeding.

"That doesn't seem like nothing's wrong." He said in a flat voice.

"It's nothing, I just trained too hard" I started to choke on the tears.

"I-I'll see you tomorrow morning alright. I just want to be alone." I said before running off.

Ciel said nothing and I didn't look back. After running for what seemed like ages, I made my way through the hall, only to be knocked down by something.

"Ow, hey you alright?" Derrick said.

I said nothing; I just stared at him, while the tears rolled down.

"Why are you here." I asked though it came out as a demand.

"I knew you were hurt, and I'm sorry for what I did. At first it was just a joke between me and Sebastian. I didn't mean to hurt you." I still sat there and Derrick came closer.

"Clary, I'm sorry." he said hugging me.

I felt the warmth of his embrace and hugged him back, my tears fell on his shoulder, and soon enough I stopped crying. He picked me up from the ground and took me to my room. Once we were in there he placed me on the bed. He looked through the cabinet to find a first aid kit to use for my hand.

"You're really reckless you know." he said cleaning the wound.

I winced at the pain, the cold liquid he used stung, and the gauze he wrapped around it was itchy.

"I don't want to wear this." I said looking at my hand.

"Too bad it's for your own good." Derrick said putting the first aid kit away.

Derrick opened the door and was about to leave.

"Wait." I said.

"Stay here, until I fall asleep." I said facing the other direction.

"Such a child." he said teasing.

He closed the door and moved a chair next to the bed.

"Anything else you want." he asked.

"Yeah, sing me something." I said my voice filled with amusement.

"W-What?!" he asked almost jumping out of his chair.

"I still need to punish you remember? This is all I can think of at the moment." I said turning to him and smirking.

"Fine." Derrick started to sing a classic lullaby, before he even finished I had fallen asleep.

His voice was beautiful, but what surprised me was when I woke up the next day, he was asleep on the chair next to my bed.

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Hope you guys like it! I'm going to be working on the next chapters as fast as I can and get them to you! ((I'm getting little sleep as it is but if there are people out there who actually find interest in my weird story then I will work my ass off to please them X3))


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Writers block...that is all...enjoy this late chapter.

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**Ch.10**

_Should I just wake him up? He looks so peaceful though, but he can't just stay here! It's 7:00 a.m. I have to get dressed and go over what I have to do with Ciel and Sebastian. I don't want to just kick him out; we barely got off on a good start. Ugh! What do I do!?_

I poked Derrick's cheek lightly to see if I got a reaction. To my surprise he was dead asleep.

_Good now's my chance!_

I quietly slipped out of bed and gathered up some clothes. I opened the door and ran off to the nearest room. I quickly shut the door and spread out the clothes.

"It's a good thing that most of these rooms are vacant." I said in a hushed tone.

I put on a regular long-sleeved shirt and a pair of pants that Sebastian had left in my drawers.

"Thank god that Sebastian picks out normal clothes!" I said to myself as I changed.

I walked out of the room and spotted Finny at the end of the hall.

"Oh, hey Finny!" I said loud enough for him to hear.

Finny started to run in my direction and I noticed he was looking at my neck when he was running.

_Shit the seal is showing isn't it!?_

I quickly covered my neck as he stopped in front of me.

"Good morning." I said happily.

"Good morning, what brings you here?" he asked.

"Huh, oh I just, was wandering around again." I said.

"Is there something wrong?" Finny asked motioning to remove my hand from my neck.

"N-No nothing's wrong! My neck just hurts a little." I said trying to avoid that subject.

"Oh, I could get you an ice pack if you'd like." Finny said his green eyes lighting up.

"There isn't any need for that, thank you though. If anyone needs me I'll be in the library, 'kay?" I said walking past Finny.

"Alrighty then!" Finny said walking in the other direction.

_How does Ciel deal with this every day?_

"Oh that's right, I don't even know what time this thing is going to start." I said to myself as I entered the library.

It wasn't that big of a room, but it was full of books. Shelf after shelf filled with so much information that one would need.

_Finally a place to relax._

I sat down in one of the chairs and let my mind wander a bit.

_I wonder what this ball would be like and the people there too. How am I supposed to act, I know basic etiquette but this is royalty and nobles. Shouldn't I at least know these people; I mean I can't just simply say 'hi' to them. If the Queen set this up just for me then I have to keep my appearance up, not only that, I have to keep my guard up too. Who knows what will happen, I just hope this will go smoothly._

A knock at the door snapped me back to my senses.

"Clary? Are you there?" I heard Ciel say.

"Yeah I'm in here." I relied and the door slowly opened.

"I thought you'd be here, so shall we go over what you need to do?" Ciel said picking out certain books from the shelf.

"Let me guess I'm going to have to study?" I said in a light tone.

"Precisely." Ciel said smirking.

"I-I was just joking you know?" I said as he placed the books in front of me.

"You must go over these books and memorize every single face, name, and history behind them." Ciel said.

"I thought so…" I trailed off as I opened one of the books.

"Don't worry I'm sure you won't have to greet as many people as you will be studying them." Ciel re-assured me.

"Okay." I said as I began to read the list of names.

_Diana Richard, wife and mother of three, married to her husband Charles Richard. Charles Richard is the owner of the Richard's Clothing and Co. Diana Richard is a photographer, many of her works is displayed in the Museum of Art and Culture located in the heart of London._

The picture showed tall, and muscular man with light wavy hair, beside him was a slightly shorter, lean woman, with dark straight hair. The next picture showed three young children, two girls, and a little boy. Names, Marianne, Lilith, and Christopher, Marianne age: 10, Lilith age: 7 and Christopher age: 4.

_Ana Wellington and George Wellington, authors, nothing that special._ I thought to myself.

I looked at the picture shown, a short, thin woman sat with a book in her hands. She wore wire-rimmed glasses and had a fair skin tone. Her husband on the other hand was tall, light skinned, and dark curly hair, he too wore glasses. I skimmed through many pages, all I had to do was remember the names and faces right?

_Marie Silverstein, Patrick Thames, Jonathon Times, Alexandria Render, Elijah Whinters. So many names of people I have to pretend I know, what a waste of time._

Two hours past and Ciel finally let me stop with the studying.

"The Ball starts at 5:30 p.m. We will leave at 5:00 p.m. just to make sure we get there on time, Mey-Rin will help you with your outfit, and you can't dress as casually as you normally do." Ciel said putting the books back.

"Well I'm not in the position to argue now am I?" I said as I put one of the books back on a high shelf the Ciel couldn't reach.

"Well I have things to do before we leave." Ciel said, his words entwined with anger

"We have a lot of time to kill, why must you work all the time, don't you ever just relax?" I asked before he left.

"Don't worry; if the Queen approves of you, then you would be doing as much work as me." Ciel said with a smirk just before he left.

"Its 9:25 a.m., what should I do? Ciel is working, I'm sure all the other servants are doing their jobs'. So what am I supposed to do?" I said to myself.

"Wait a second… Where's Gynx?" I said in a panic.

I quickly jumped off my chair and headed for my room.

_I'm pretty sure Derrick knows what happened. He should be awake by now right?_

I burst through the bedroom door which caused the demon to jolt up in surprise.

"Sorry, I thought you were awake by now, where's Gynx?" I asked my apology as flat as ever.

"Oh, your cat, last I saw him was with Sebastian. Now would you mind trying to sound apologetic when you've done something wrong?" Derrick said yawning.

"Okay thanks for the info!" I said before leaving.

"H-Hey!" I heard Derrick yell before I left the room.

_Okay, maybe that was a little mean. Well that's in the past now._

"Where would Sebastian be?" I said to myself as I searched for the butler.

I kept roaming about the manor and entered Ciel's study.

"Hey Ciel sorry to bother you, I was just wondering where Sebastian is." I said lightly as I slowly opened the door.

"Huh? Oh Sebastian should be in his office, just go down to where the servants stay and it should be at the end of the hall." Ciel instructed.

"Okay thanks!" I said as I rushed through the halls.

Once I was down there it seemed really quiet and peaceful.

_I guess everyone else is busy._

I ran down to the end of the hall and knocked on the door.

"Come in." Sebastian said from inside the room.

"Hey Sebastian, I was just wondering if you've seen Gynx." I said as I went inside the room.

"Oh yes he's right here." Sebastian said as he gestured to the kitten that had been sleeping at the edge of the desk.

The room was filled with books and documents. The desk had an abundance of papers too, but they were neatly stacked upon one another. Sebastian who was sitting behind the desk had glasses on and was working on some papers.

"Sorry for bothering you, I'll be on my way." I said as I scooped up the kitten and headed for the door.

"No problem, if you need anything just come and find me." Sebastian said lightly.

"Sure." I said closing the door and heading back.

Gynx was still sleeping in my arms as I passed the many halls of the manor. I went back to my room which was now empty.

"I guess Derrick left already." I said placing the kitten on the bed carefully.

I quietly left the room and headed for the library. I passed by a clock that read 9:56 a.m. and sighed deeply.

_What am I supposed to do, I'm so bored and everyone is off doing something else._

Once I reached the library I went in and got the books Ciel had previously taken out for me.

_Might as well study some more, if there is anything I need help with, it's socializing._

I took the books with me and headed back to my room. As I turned the hall I saw Derrick walking in the other direction and quickened my pace. I lightly tapped his should with the corner of a book and he turned to look.

"Sorry about earlier." I said apologetically.

"Well, thanks for apologizing correctly. What are those for?" he asked pointing at the books.

"Research." I said bluntly.

"Good luck with that, so did you find your pest?" he asked.

"Yes, and he isn't a pest, you just say that because he doesn't like you." I said sticking out my tongue.

"Yeah, whatever. What time is this thing going to start anyway?" he asked.

"Around 5 p.m." I said.

"Geez." Derrick replied sighing.

"What's wrong with that?" I asked.

"Nothing in particular. I guess I'd better go do some research for myself." Derrick said then disappeared.

"Damn demonic speed." I muttered as I turned again and went into the room.

"I'm so bored." I said in a low voice as I sat next to Gynx and began going over the names.

There were so many names that were memorized and so many faces carved into my brain, it felt like I knew there whole life story by now.

_What should I do for the time being? Where did Derrick go anyway?_

I kept reading until there was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" I asked setting the books aside.

"It's Ciel we have to go over the strategy for this evening." I heard Ciel say from the other side of the door.

"Alright then." I said as I hopped off the bed and picked Gynx up.

I stalked out of the room and down the hall with Ciel to the study. He was quiet the entire time, until he started to sneeze at least 2 every minutes.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"I'm not sure." Ciel said as he sneezed.

"Oh, are you allergic to something?" I asked trying to hide Gynx behind my back.

"Don't tell me you kept that stupid thing!" Ciel said as he saw Gynx pop his head out from behind.

"W-Well, maybe." I said as I put Gynx on my shoulder.

"Fine, I guess I can't really complain, just keep him away from me." Ciel said sniffling.

"Got it." I said under my breath.

"We've still got a lot of time, so once we give you the instructions; feel free to practice them over until it's time to go." Ciel said smiling.

"You're so evil." I muttered to myself as we walked into the room.

"Sebastian, please go over the list of things Clary needs to prepare for." Ciel said sitting in his chair and taking a sip of his tea.

"Certainly. Clarissa, you must practice your dancing, so once you find the time practice with Derrick. Also, you must address each person you meet and or remember the faces of accordingly. If such person gets on the wrong foot with you, do not talk back or make any sort signal showing displeasure. If you do so, there will be a problem. I know you have a lot of tolerance, but your attitude needs adjustment towards the people you don't usually get along with." Sebastian said.

"I think we all know that." Ciel sneered.

I glared at Ciel who seemed to ignore my warning.

"You should take Sebastian's advice; whenever you can't say anything you make faces, so you should work on that." Ciel said smirking as he took a bite of a piece of cake.

"Anyway, if you feel any sort of threat make sure you tell someone, don't go off by yourself. In the worst case scenario make sure you have Derrick by you at all times. Nina Hopkins, the Phantomhive family tailor, will be working on something to accommodate a hand weapon. Speaking of which I think she should be here shortly, she is going to have to get your measurements if you don't mind." Sebastian said.

"Okay, is that all?" I asked.

"Basically, so then go find Derrick and work on what you have to." Ciel said.

"Alright, now I have to go fond that idio- I mean, my elder." I said correcting my remark.

"Sounds better, work on that." Ciel said.

"Tell me when Miss Nina gets here." I said walking out of the room.

I walked down the hall and felt for Gynx who was still resting on my shoulder.

"You should be lucky that Ciel wasn't too mad about me keeping you, the least you can do is behave while we are gone." I said.

_Maybe I should just leave you with Pluto, or Snake. Hopefully they have no problem with you; I'm not so comfortable with you staying with Finny, judging by how he handles Pluto. Maybe I should ask the other servants. First I should probably get Derrick._

I walked through that halls and finally got to my room. I opened the door and found Derrick lying on the bed.

"Hey! You could at least ask. You do have your own room don't you?" I said as I walked over to him.

"Well I came to look for you and found these books. I was interested in reading, besides I have nothing else better to do." Derrick said and closed a book he was reading.

"Well, might as well study, but first we have to go practice." I said and grabbed his wrist trying to pull him from the bed.

"What do you mean? I don't have to study; I know almost everyone listed in that book." Derrick said resisting my attempt to pull him away.

"Oh yeah, then why did I have to I could have just used you as my information. Anyway, we have to go practice m I said as I walked over to him.

"Well I came to look for you and found these books. I was interested in reading, besides I have nothing else better to do." Derrick said and closed a book he was reading.

"Well, might as well study, but first we have to go practice." I said and grabbed his wrist trying to pull him from the bed.

"What do you mean? I don't have to study; I know almost everyone listed in that book." Derrick said resisting my attempt to pull him away.

"Oh yeah, then why did I have to I could have just used you as my information. Anyway, we have to go practice my dancing. As bad as it sounds I need a partner, so I have to settle for you." I said with a sigh.

"Actually it's the other way around, I'm the one stuck with you." Derrick sneered.

"I don't give a care in the world, now come on." I said pulling him once more.

"I'm actually kind of tired; maybe I should take a nap." Derrick said.

"Derrick. _Now._" I demanded and he lazily got up.

"Geez, you're such a pain." Derrick said as he walked out.

"You should work on your attitude too." I muttered.

"What was that?" Derrick asked glaring back at me.

"I said that I order you to obey my every command no matter the circumstance, also, try to be a little nicer like Sebastian." I said flatly.

"Fine." Derrick said in response.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"I'll tell you when I think about it." I said.

"So where are we going?" I asked walking faster to keep up with Derrick.

"The front parlor, it has enough room for dancing, so what should we practice?" Derrick asked.

"Maybe the waltz, that's the only one I know anyways." I said.

"Alright then." he said turning a corner and opening the door.

"Ladies first." Derrick said as he held the door open.

"Thanks." I said and walked in.

"Shall we?" he said as he gestured for me to take his hand.

"Maybe you should go back to your usual self, it's a bit too out of character for me to adjust to." I said as I took his hand.

"All you have to do is tell me and I will, besides, I have to do this once we go to the ball this evening, its proper manners, and you should do the same." Derrick said.

"Okay." I said as I put Gynx down and Derrick began to lead.

Once again it was the usual almost tripping over myself, but after a few more times I adjusted to it. Derrick began going the slightest bit faster and I followed, my tempo was matching with his perfectly and I was able to dance through with hardly any mistakes. I saw that Gynx had disappeared from where I left him and tripped over something. This time I crashed into Derrick making both of us to fall.

"Ow, what was that." I said rubbing my head and looking at Gynx which was at my feet.

"That damn cat!" Derrick said sitting up.

"Looks like that proper act has run out." I said.

"Does he always have to follow you everywhere?" Derrick said getting up and patting off some dust from his pants.

"Well if I had left him alone, he would've done much more damage." I said as Derrick pulled me up.

"I think that that's enough of practice. It's already 12:10 p.m. Time sure flies by when you're being productive." Derrick said.

"You call that productive?" I said and rubbed my head again.

"Did you hit your head?" Derrick said as he leaned forward and moved my hand away.

"Ow! That hurts!" I said as he inspected my head.

"No wonder, you have a bump right there, you should get some ice for that." He said moving away.

"Alright, I will, next time can you let me answer before taking action?" I said placing my hand back to where the bump was.

"Well if I let you answer you would more than likely say it was 'no problem'. So I took matters into my own hands as I saw fit." Derrick said smirking.

"Okay okay, I get it." I said as I picked Gynx up and poked his nose.

"Is that all the discipline you're going to give that thing?" Derrick asked annoyed.

"If I let _you_ there is a 75% chance you'd kill him." I said.

"Well, I can't disagree with that." Derrick muttered.

"I got to go see Mey-Rin, see you later." I said as I left for the door.

"Be careful and try not to hurt yourself any further." Derrick said from behind.

I walked down the hall and headed for the servants' quarters.

_Now that I think about it, I don't know where they keep this stuff. Instead of bothering Mey-Rin maybe I should just ask Sebastian or Ciel. At least I know where to find those two. Wait I could've just asked Derrick when I had the chance, I hope he's still there._

I stopped and turned back to the front parlor quickening my pace. Once I made it to the door I was stopped by a cold hand at my shoulder.

"Here, idiot." Derrick said handing me an ice pack.

"Thanks." I said grabbing the ice.

"How did you kno-" I said before I was abruptly cut off.

"It wasn't that hard to find out; you're really predictable at times. Well, if you need me I'll be in your room sleeping." Derrick said turning to leave.

"Why mine?!" I asked in rage but before I got an answer Derrick sped off.

_Damn him! I was planning on reading or sleeping, something to pass the time but now I can't! Might as well use his room, wait, where is his room? Argh! I'll just use an empty guest room._

I walked to the nearest room and opened the door. It was empty, completely vacant, no bed, or drawers, just a window.

"I guess they really had to prepare a room then. Literally." I said closing the door.

Gynx shivered as I pet him, it probably didn't help that it was the same hand that had been holding the ice. I kept walking until I ended up in front of Ciel's study.

"Ciel, are you busy?" I said as I knocked lightly on the door.

"Not really, come in." he said and I opened the door.

_Oh crap I still have Gynx with me. Should I just leave him outside or something?_

In the corner I saw Dan; he looked as if he were trying to get my attention. I slowly walked to the corner when Ciel was looking at some papers.

"Hey Dan, would you mind taking Gynx to my room?" I whispered to the snake.

He nodded as if it was what he planned. I set Gynx down and Dan caught Gynx's attention. At first he was cautious of the snake then began following him around. I opened the door a bit so that they could leave and shut it quietly once they did.

"What are you standing there for?" Ciel said looking up.

"Nothing much." I said hesitantly.

"Okay then, what did you need?" he asked.

"Well, I don't need anything, Derrick is kind of, 'borrowing' my room at the moment so I was just bored." I said sitting in one of the chairs.

"I guess you can hang around here if you'd like, I'm sure Nina will be here shortly, trust me once she gets here you will feel like you've spent an eternity with her." Ciel said with displeasure.

"I'm guessing you don't like this tailor of yours?" I asked with interest.

"Well, 'like' isn't such a good term, it's more like she is a 'bother' to be around." Ciel said.

"Come on I'm sure she isn't that bad." I said.

There was a knock at the door and Sebastian came in.

"Miss Hopkins has arrived." He said flatly.

"I guess you're going to have to find out for yourself." Ciel said with a smirk.

* * *

Oooooo! Cliff hanger! ((ahahaha I'm not funny, anyways yes I leave you with a cliff hanger.)) Hope you enjoyed this chapter, keep reviewing and reading. Thank you for reading my story I greatly appreciate it! w


	11. Chapter 11

**Ch.11**

_I swear Ciel overreacts way too much. I'm sure Miss Nina isn't bad at all; if she has to tolerate Ciel I'd say she is a very patient woman._

Sebastian had led me to a room at the opposite side of the parlor where Derrick and I had been practicing.

"Is Miss Nina in here?" I asked.

"Yes, she is preparing her tools for the fitting." Sebastian said with a light grin.

"_Tools?_ This is just measurements right?" I asked less enthusiastic than before.

"Alright you can come in now." A voice from the inside of the room said.

Sebastian opened the door slowly, a bright light came from the room and once my sight adjusted it was horror. The room was a pale pink color, but that wasn't the problem, the problem was the mess of pieces of fabrics, pins, sewing objects, and measuring strips.

"Okay, I understand the measuring tools, but it isn't like this person can make a decent dress in less than 2 hours." I said.

"What was that my dear? Oh trust me; you don't know what kind of tailor _I_ am." A voice said from behind the mountain of fabric.

She was very tall and thin, she wore a long coat which reached a collar at the neck. Basically she was a very sophisticated woman, long brown-red hair that was in a side pony-tail.

"Nice to meet you." I said as the woman came closer.

"Same to you, now what kind of dress did you have in mind today? Or perhaps would you like to browse from the Nina Hopkins collection?" she said.

"U-Uh…Sebastian?" I asked hoping the butler could help me in this situation.

"Miss Nina, there isn't any need for a flashy dress. We just need something simple yet, upholding. To show that Miss Clarissa here has a status that she protects dearly. After all, this is for a very special event that we will be attending to shortly." Sebastian said.

"Why did Mr. Stiff have to come?" Nina said pouting.

"Well I'll see what I can do none the less." Nina continued grabbing my arm and inching me toward a short podium to stand on.

"You can go now Mr. Stiff." Nina said motioning for Sebastian to leave.

"Certainly, if you need anything just inform me." Sebastian said leaving.

"W-Wait!" I said trying to stop him from leaving but I was silenced by Nina.

"Now, now, you don't want a man to be here while I take your measurements do you?" Nina said removing her coat exposing her very short shorts and sleeved shirt with frills.

_Well, there goes the sophisticated part of her personality, and I thought that my shorts were bad to have in public, if this woman was to be seen out in public like this then she'd be mobbed! Well, it is very un-ladylike but I can't say that since I where shorts too, but at least they reach up to my knees. Nina's on the other hand are a tad bit too short. I guess I can't complain._

"How long will this take?" I asked as she began to take my shirt off, and I shuddered from both embarrassment, and how cold her hands were.

"Not long, try to stay still I know this is very uncomfortable for you but the less you move the faster this can go." Nina said smiling.

"Okay." I said as I straightened my position.

A few moments later and Nina was finished. I put my shirt back on and was joined with Sebastian and Ciel.

"I have what I need, so what exactly do you want the dress to look like? Nina asked grabbing a pencil and paper.

"I honestly have no idea so I'll have to leave this to you." I whispered to Sebastian and quickly moved for the door.

"Where do you think you're going Missy?" I heard Nina growl.

"W-Well, you see, I was hoping that I could go check on something." I lied hoping she would let me go.

"I don't think so, you may not know what it is that you want, but you _are_ the person who will wear this dress." Nina said again and I returned to where I was originally standing.

"Nice person was it?" Ciel teased.

"Well, I didn't expect she'd be _that_ bad of a person, but I guess you have a good judge of character." I muttered.

"Now all I need is an apology and I might consider to forgive you." Ciel said.

"Oh wait now I know why you must hate her so much. I mean, she didn't seem to have any comments on my measurements, but she would talk to me about how, 'everything about you is small.'" I hissed and saw Sebastian chuckle.

Ciel flushed deeply and didn't say a word after that.

"Alright alright, I'm sorry for what I said." I started and patted Ciel on the back for comfort.

"I don't need your pity, and what makes you think I want a simple apology?" Ciel said.

"What do you mean _simple?_" I asked.

"Well everyone who stays in my manor has a purpose to fill, so what purpose do you have? I mean it was nice of me to let you stay here but maybe you should work to have your stay." Ciel said with a smirk.

"Fine, I'll do what you want, but don't forget, if the Queen approves of me then I do have a purpose now don't I? Until that time I'll do whatever you want." I said in a flat voice.

"Oh really? I sure look forward to it then. It's only about 1:30 p.m. you have until 5:00 p.m. to do whatever I want, but it doesn't stop me from ordering you around during the ball now does it?" Ciel said.

"Sounds good enough." I tried to say flatly but there was a lump in my throat that threw off the sound of my voice causing it to be unstable.

"Are you two done verbally starting a war?" Sebastian asked.

"Seems so, anyway have you finished the preparations for the dress?" I asked.

"Yes, would you like to see the design?" Nina asked.

"No, she would like it to be a surprise." Ciel said from behind me.

"Wait but I- Uh, yeah I'm fine with seeing it when it's done." I said.

"Hm? Alright then, you can all go I will be working here if you need me." Nina said as she shooed us away.

"What was that about?" Sebastian asked.

"Oh nothing, right Clary?" Ciel said grinning.

"R-Right." I said.

"Okay then, I'll be in my office doing some paper work. Would you like some sweets?" Sebastian asked.

"No thank you, Clary and I will be working on something ourselves too." Ciel said grabbing my wrist and pulling me away.

"So, what's your first order?" I asked as Ciel sat down on his usual chair behind his desk.

"Hm, I'm not sure, just sit there until I think of something." Ciel said and was beginning to shuffle through papers.

"Okay then." I said as I slouched against the seat.

_Was he serious about this? I'm bored just sitting here, it hasn't even been a minute but it feels like forever. Can't he just think of something already?_

"Hm, I'm quite bored of reading. Put these papers in alphabetical order and stack them on top of the shelf over there." Ciel said standing up to stretch.

"Sure." I said getting up and took the papers from the desk.

"When I get back you'd better be done." Ciel said.

"Back? Where are you going?" I asked.

"To have Sebastian make me some sweets." he replied leaving the room.

"Geez, how does Sebastian put up with him?" I muttered to myself as I began shuffling through the papers, not long after I finished organizing the papers and stacked them on the shelf.

"Ciel isn't back yet, do I stay here?" I whispered to myself.

"Well he shouldn't take that long; it's been five minutes so he should be here in no time.

There was a quiet knock at the door.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"It's Sebastian." Sebastian said from behind the door.

"Oh, that's a surprise." I said as Sebastian walked in.

"Where's Ciel? He said he was going to see you." I continued.

"I thought he was in here." Sebastian said.

"So, he wasn't with you? Where could he have gone?" I asked startled.

"I'm not sure." Sebastian said resting his head on his palm.

"Well then we should look for him!" I said standing up.

"First we have to know which direction he went in." Sebastian said.

"Well, where were you? All I know is that he was heading in your direction." I said.

"I was in the kitchen; I thought that you two might have wanted something to eat." Sebastian said.

"Of course." I muttered to myself.

"What was that?" Sebastian asked.

"Eh, oh nothing, anyway let's split up. If either one of us finds him then… well I'll figure something out." I said heading out the door.

_Where could he have gone?_

I kept thinking of all possible places Ciel would be in, and why he wouldn't have come back.

_Was he taken? No it wasn't possible, no one that I know of came to the manor._

"Derrick, come I need your help." I said as I quickly ripped off the bandage from my neck.

The seal glowed red and Derrick was right next to me.

"What did you need now?" he asked irritated.

"Did you see Ciel go anywhere?" I asked.

"Yeah, he was heading for the kitchen last time I saw him." Derrick said.

"Well then let's go to where you last saw him." I said.

Derrick quickly scooped me up and in a flash we were in the kitchen.

"How did you? Oh wait never mind." I said.

"Yeah try not to forget that I'm a demon." Derrick said with a laugh.

"I never knew the kitchen was this close." I saw looking out into the hall.

"Close to where?" Derrick asked.

"Hold on I'm going to check something out." I said leaving the kitchen and dashing out into the hall.

Just as I suspected, I had been here before. The front parlor was just around the corner, so was the room that Miss Nina had been working in.

"Maybe, just maybe my suspicions are right." I whispered to myself as I opened the door to the room that Nina had been in and placed my hand on my neck to cover the seal.

"H-Hey!" I heard Ciel shriek as I opened the door.

I only got a quick glance but he was trying to get Nina off him, his shirt almost completely off.

"Gah! S-Sorry!" I said quickly covering my eyes with my one free hand and flushing a deep red.

"Why can you never cooperate earl?" I heard Nina say.

"I told you I don't need you to tailor a suit for me, I have plenty!" Ciel said.

"U-Uh, what's going on?" I said still covering my eyes.

"Nothing, you can look now." I heard Ciel say.

"W-Well Sebastian was looking for you." I said, my face was hot and I'm positive that I had been blushing really hard.

"Yeah yeah, I would've had a normal day if it weren't for Nina here." Ciel said.

"I just wanted to make a matching suit for the dress I made." Nina said pouting.

"Couldn't you have just used the measurements you already have?" Ciel asked.

"Well those aren't accurate or recent enough for me to be sure." Nina said.

"What's going on?" I heard Sebastian say from behind.

"Oh Sebastian you're here." I said.

"Glad to have you join us Mr. Stiff." Nina muttered.

"Come on, we don't have time to waste." Ciel said fixing his collar on his shirt

"What do you mean waste?" I asked looking at a nearby clock.

_3:40 already? Heh, more like barely, it seems like today has taken forever._

"Miss Nina, have you finished the dress?" Sebastian asked breaking the silence.

"Yes it's done." Nina said proudly.

"Thank you for your cooperation I hope it wasn't much trouble." Sebastian said again.

"I really wish I could see it on you, but unfortunately I must go now." Nina said, mostly directing it to me.

"I don't see why you _can't_ see it on Clary, why not have her try it on and see if you need to make any adjustments? It's no problem right Clary?" Ciel said smirking.

"Wait but I-" I started.

"That's a wonderful idea alright, boys out, I'll call you in when we are ready." Nina said cutting me off.

Sebastian and Ciel were both led out and I was prisoned in the room.

_Shit! What do I do I can't have her see the mark on my neck!_

"Come on we need to put your corset on." Nina said grabbing my wrist.

"Wait what!? Is there really any need for that?" I asked.

"Of course, this seems like a very important public event. Well I don't think I can say 'public' since it is only for people with a very high social standard. So it's only fitting to dress like a noble now isn't it?" Nina said preparing the torture device.

"D-Do I really have to?" I asked but she was already motioning for me to undress.

"I can do this on my own, you go get the things you need or something." I said frantically.

"Alright then." she said.

I found a ribbon and tied it around my neck and quickly took off my shirt.

"Damn this." I muttered to myself as I took a quick glance to see if she were looking.

It wasn't long until she had me in the corset, now all that followed was the dress which she proudly unveiled.

"I-Is that it?" I asked my mouth dropping to the floor.

It was a beautiful long-sleeved dress with frills at the skirt. The color of the ocean; blues and greens blended together creating the most beautiful color, not to mention the pearl white ruffles and trim. The skirt was long and frilled, with a ribbon tying to the back. The top of the dress was very plain and simple; the end of the sleeves had white cuffs and had a white ruffled collar.

"You made this like an hour ago." I asked though it came out as a statement.

"I told you I'm no ordinary tailor." Nina said taking the dress and helping me into it.

"So would you mind explaining why you have a ribbon around your neck?" Nina asked as she untied it.

"No! I uh, I got a burn." I said quickly covering my neck.

"Oh that's terrible! How should we cover it up?" Nina asked.

"Well, it's up to you; I mean I usually just put a bandage on it." I said shrugging.

"No, no, no, that will not go at all, let's see if I have something." she said rummaging through her bag.

"It's a little much, but it will have to do." Nina said handing me a choker.

The choker almost matched the color of the dress, it was really similar, but you couldn't really tell a difference, it had white ruffles and a blue stone at the front of it. I quickly put it on trying to move as fast as I could to not have her see the seal. To my surprise she literally jumped on me.

"What are you doing!?" I asked trying to break from her grasp.

"You look so adorable I couldn't help myself!" Nina said hugging me tighter.

"Okay, I get it, can you let go now!" I said gasping for air.

"Fine then." she said pouting.

"Thank you for choosing me as your tailor I took pleasure in making this dress for you." Nina said as she began to pack her bags.

"You're leaving already?" I asked.

"Well, it is almost time for you to be departing as well." Nina said pointing at the clock.

"Wow, time really flies by when you're occupied. Alright then, should I show you the way out?" I asked stepping towards the door.

_Is this dress really supposed to carry weapons? The shoes are uncomfortable as it is anyway._

"No I'll show myself out. It was a pleasure seeing you in that dress." Nina said hugging me once more.

Once she left the room I quickly followed behind and headed for my room.

_Thank god it's empty._

I looked into the mirror, my hair was still down, and so I decided to put it into two braids. There was a quiet knock at the door.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"It's Finny, Mey-Rin has asked you to come to the training room." Finny said.

"Oh okay." I said as I walked toward the door.

_I feel like I'm forgetting something._

I looked behind me to see Gynx sleeping on the bed.

"Of course." I whispered to myself and quickly scooped up the kitten.

"Hey Finny, do you mind taking care of Gynx while I'm gone?" I asked closing the door.

"I'd be happy to." Finny said taking the kitten from my hands.

"Did Miss Nina make that dress for you? It looks beautiful!" Finny said wide-eyed.

"Thank you." I said smiling.

"Well, you'd better hurry. Mey-Rin is waiting." Finny said once more.

"Got it." I said before rushing towards the training rooms.

Once I was there the door was open to the "Fire-arms" room which Mey-Rin was waiting in.

"Good, now come in." Mey-Rin said.

"So, where do we plan on keeping the weapons?" I asked as Mey-Rin took down a pistol and a pocket knife.

"I can see we are sticking to the smaller items." I whispered.

"Well, Miss Nina didn't really keep in mind that we needed space in the dress to have weapons, so we are going to have to improvise." Mey-Rin said taking out a gun strap.

"Here, wrap this around your leg, the higher the better, we need to keep it out of sight." she said handing me the strap.

"Okay." I said as I tied it around my thigh, close to the knee.

"Now, put the pistol in its handle, the handle should always be at the side of the strap so that you have easier access to it." Mey-Rin said.

"Got it, where am I going to have the knife?" I asked.

"This is the tricky part." Mey-Rin said.

"How about I just keep it in a purse or something?" I asked.

"No, they will probably check your bag before entering. How about just using the pistol, it think that it's more than enough don't you?" Mey-Rin asked.

"Yeah I'm fine with that." I said.

"Okay then, we're finished here." she said.

"I'll go meet up with the rest of them." I said as I left the room.

It didn't take long until I found someone; sadly it was the last person I'd wanted to see.

"Hey Derrick." I muttered.

"What's wrong? Are you disappointed in seeing me?" he teased.

"No, I was just hoping for anyone else." I said.

"Ouch, talk about hurting someone's feelings." he said.

"Never mind that, shouldn't you get dressed?" I asked looking at his normal dark jeans and shirt attire.

"Hate to break it to you, but sadly I don't have any of my clothes here, I'll just have to get some when we are there." Derrick said.

"Well, it's convenient for you." I said.

"Anyways, where are Sebastian and Ciel?" I asked.

"Getting ready, at least I think." Derrick said.

"Thanks, you are such great help." I said with sarcasm in each word.

"Don't forget to at least act polite and lady-like when we're there." Derrick said.

"I got it; we should be heading there in no time though." I said looking for a nearby clock, just my luck, there were none in the hall.

"Come on, let's go wait for them to be done." I said starting to walk towards the exit.

"Idiot, you do know that there is a shorter way if you go this way." Derrick said walking in the other direction.

"I swear sometimes I really want to kill this guy." I muttered to myself.

As much as I hate to admit it, Derrick was right the path he led me through was much faster than the normal way I'd always take. We ended up in front of Ciel's study in no time all we had to do was wait for Sebastian and Ciel to meet up with us.

"Wait, if you're going to get dressed when you're there then how am I supposed to talk to the people there?" I asked panic filled my voice.

"Well, you looked as if you were studying very hard so I don't see any problem in you doing it by yourself." Derrick said smirking lightly.

"Gee, thanks." I said pouting.

"Don't worry; you have Ciel with you don't you?" Derrick said.

"Yeah, but still, you never know what could happen what if we get separated?" I asked.

"I highly doubt that would happen." Derrick said patting the top of my head.

"What about the demon seal on your hand? How are you going to hide it from everyone?" I asked.

"God, do you always worry this much? I told you I will figure something out, I'm not as stupid as you are." Derrick said.

"Hey, at least I think ahead!" I said.

"Could you two refrain from fighting when we get there?" Sebastian said.

He was dressed in a regular suit, with a long coat. His hair was combed back and he was wearing glasses. Meanwhile, Ciel who had been behind him was wearing a suit as well with a dark blue lining. His hat had the same blue colored ribbon wrapped around it.

"Shall we go?" Sebastian said.

"There should be a carriage waiting for us outside." Ciel said as he walked in front.

"So, we all know what to do if something happens right?" Derrick said.

"Yes, oh, Clarissa, do you have enough ammunition in your gun?" Sebastian asked.

"Yup, what about you? Aren't you going to take anything?" I asked.

"I don't need to, neither does Derrick I'm sure we can handle ourselves, try to stay out of trouble though." he said.

"I will, now how am I supposed to get the Queen's acceptance?" I asked.

"It won't be that difficult, just try to show your leadership and honor as much as possible, a good character is what she looks for most in a person." Ciel said.

We reached the carriage and got inside; as we rode away I saw the manor getting smaller and smaller.

_Time to get this over with._

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Hope you guys like it! Please keep reading and reviewing I really appreciate your support!


	12. Chapter 12

**Ch.12**

It was quiet inside the carriage; I just sat impatiently looking outside the window. The sky had turned to a dark blue, sort of indigo color. It was dark none the less but thankfully it didn't look like it was going to rain.

"How much longer?" I asked, more like whined.

"Not long, about 15 more minutes." Sebastian said.

"No wonder we left early, it's already been 15 minutes since we left." I muttered.

"Quit complaining, most people would be overjoyed if they were meeting the Queen. More of a reason for you since you may or may not be given a title. If she does allow you to work with pup over there, you will have a lot of things on your hands." Derrick said.

"He's absolutely right-Wait, pup?!" Ciel exclaimed.

"I am fully aware of that, and do you have to bully Ciel at every given chance you get?" I said chuckling lightly.

"Well considering the circumstance I don't see any reason not to." Derrick said shrugging.

"I sure as hell do!" Ciel said through gritted teeth.

"Come on stop fighting, at least try to be nice to each other until this is over." Sebastian said.

"The sooner we get there the better." I sighed.

"I wouldn't get too ahead of yourself." Derrick said.

"Right, we still don't know if there is any threat to you once we get there." Sebastian said.

"As long as she doesn't run off then I think we will be okay." Ciel said.

"Hey! Don't I get a say in any of this?! Besides you make it seem as though I cause all the trouble here." I said.

"Well, you do." Derrick said.

"Thanks for being so straightforward." I muttered.

"Looks like we are here." Sebastian said as the carriage came to a stop.

"It's a good thing we still have time to spare, Derrick you have to settle some things with your family. Try not to take too long." Sebastian said again.

"Got it, anything else?" Derrick asked getting out.

"Keep an eye out." Sebastian said.

"Shall we?" Derrick asked as he stretched out his hand to help me out.

"My pleasure." I said.

The house, no, the mansion that I had been standing in front of was much larger than Ciel's manor. Almost 2 times the size of it, it had large gates surrounding the exterior and a large set of steps to enter. The doors were large and dark, with a lion engraved on its' handles.

"Wow." I said in awe.

"Nice isn't it. Now, be careful, if you find anything suspicious just try to keep quiet." Sebastian said.

"Okay." I said.

"I'll meet up with you soon." Derrick said as he walked up the steps and disappeared into the doors.

"You do remember at least some people right?" Ciel said.

"What?" I asked.

"So that you can socialize and give out a nice impression." Ciel said.

"Oh, yea I remember a majority of them, but I still don't know much about the Queen's family in general." I said.

"Well that's fine I guess we can't have you know _everyone._ That will just end up having people be suspicious." Ciel said.

"Alright then, I'll try to keep the talking to a minimum." I said.

"Well then, let's go." Sebastian said.

Ciel grabbed my hand and led me up the steps.

"Don't be so stiff, relax a little." Ciel whispered.

"R-Right, by the way why didn't you want Elizabeth to come?" I whispered back.

"Well, it isn't hard to explain so I'll just get to the point. I don't intend to bring my fiancée somewhere if there is a possible threat to her safety, and in all honesty, she would just get in the way." Ciel said sighing softly.

"Oh, but she doesn't seem that bad. I wouldn't even say annoying, she's really nice. Sure she can go overboard a little but…" I trailed off.

"Exactly." Ciel said with a laugh.

A guard was standing in front of the door and took no time in opening it.

"That was easy." I whispered.

"Well, the majority of people here know who I am." Ciel whispered back.

"Oh, right." I replied.

The inside of the mansion was a bright white with gold, paintings hung on the walls; the light was so strong my eyes had to adjust for a moment. A chandelier hung in the middle of the high gold-colored ceiling. There were three long spiraling staircases, and at least four different doors to go through.

_How on earth can people live here?!_

"Try not to get lost." I heard a familiar voice say.

Of course my suspicions were right, Derrick had been at the top of one of the staircases dressed in a black suit with a long dark coat, his dark hair was combed back and his dark eyes had lightened up a bit. He had a pair of white gloves on and started to descend from the stairs.

"That was rather quick." Ciel said.

"It didn't take too long to explain everything, now; the Queen has asked to speak with you." Derrick said.

Ciel released his grip on my hand and Derrick took it instead, leading us up the staircase he had previously descended from.

"Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary so I think you'll be fine." Derrick whispered.

"Okay, what am I supposed to do?" I whispered back a bit of panic in my voice.

"Nothing in particular, some of the guests will want to talk with you that's all, I'll help you on the way." Derrick replied.

"Why would they want to talk to me anyway, I haven't done much." I said lightly.

"It's just how society is, once they are given another noble some people want to get as close as possible, gossip, ruin, or just get involved. Others just want to know who they are." Derrick whispered again.

"What if-" I started but was abruptly cut off when Derrick squeezed my hand.

"Just stop worrying." he hissed.

We reached the top of the stairs and entered a room full of people, talking, dancing, eating, and drinking. At the very end of the room there was a person dressed all in black with another dressed in white sitting patiently. Once everyone got inside and the door shut I caught the attention of quite a lot of people. I noticed at least 75% of the people in there were some that I researched.

"That's the Queen and her butler, well more of a personal butler Charles." Derrick whispered as he led me through a crowd and towards the Queen.

"Are you sure about this, people are starting to take notice." I said nervously.

"Don't worry." Derrick said and pushed me forward.

"This is Clarissa Stonewell." Derrick said to the Queen who nodded.

She was dressed all in black and had a black lace, sort of veil covering her face.

"Pleased to meet you." I said nervously and bowed.

"The pleasure is all mine, please enjoy your stay. I hope to stay in touch with you." she replied lifting up the veil and smiling kindly.

"Thank you." I said.

"I do hope my nephew here has treated you well." she said.

"Oh, yes he has, he's helped me a lot actually. Thank you very much for the opportunity in coming here and attending the school. It means a lot and I'm more than happy to finally thank you." I said cheerfully.

"There isn't any need for you to do that, you are a very young, smart, and bright girl. You deserve it, now I don't have to waste your time, go on and have a nice time." she said as she covered her face once again.

"It was no problem at all; it was an honor talking to you." I bowed and Derrick led me back to where Ciel and Sebastian were talking to people.

"That went nicely." Derrick said.

"God I was so nervous do you think she liked me?" I asked.

"You worry too much, it went fine." Derrick said.

"I feel as though the man sitting closest to the Queen didn't like me very much though." I said looking over my shoulder to the pale man drinking.

"So you noticed huh? I had a funny feeling about him too; he's the Prime Minister over in Korea." Derrick said.

"How do you know all of this? Do you think he'll be a threat?" I asked.

"From the looks of it, I don't think so. None the less, we should still keep an eye out." Derrick said.

"Did it go well?" Ciel asked.

"I think so." I said.

"That doesn't really help, Derrick how'd it go?" Ciel said.

"It went fine, there didn't seem to be any problems, so I think it was alright." Derrick said.

"Gee, you make me sound like so much help." I muttered.

"My, my, that's such a beautiful dress!" I heard someone say from behind me.

_Dear god, please no!_

"T-Thank you." I stuttered as I turned around.

A slim red-haired woman with wire-rimmed glasses was standing in front of me smiling; she wore a violet short sleeved dress that was floor length. Her hair hung in waves of velvet red, from what I remember, this woman was Marie Wellington.

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Wellington." I said bowing.

"Oh there is no need for that my dear, I'm not all that special." Marie said.

"Special? Why of course you are, your books are fantastic." I said.

"Thank you very much, but my husband is far more skilled than I am." Marie said.

"Ah, Mr. Wellington's style of writing is very nice as well, if you don't mind my asking, where is he?" Derrick asked from behind.

"Oh, he is currently on a trip to Korea, he is working on another one of his writings." Marie said.

"Oh I see, please give my regards." Derrick said.

"I will see to it." Marie said smiling.

"That's enough for me, what about you? I'd like to know about you if that's alright." Marie said.

"Oh, well what is it that you want to know?" I asked.

"For starters, what are your parents like?" Marie asked.

"My parents? Well they weren't around long enough for me to know." I said.

"You poor thing, I'm sorry for having to bring it up." Marie said.

"It's no problem; this is how you get to know a person isn't it? Well, after that predicament I came here to London and am currently ranked highest in my school." I said.

"You've accomplished a lot at such a young age, what else do you do, like hobbies?" Marie asked.

"I like to read, and love listening to music. Most of the time it was just old records I'd find in the music department." I said.

"Do you play an instrument? Who is your favorite composer?" Marie asked.

"Hmm, that's a tough one, I'd have to say Bach, and yes I play the flute, and piano." I said.

"Wow, you took every opportunity you could once you came here didn't you?" Marie asked with a light chuckle.

"There was just so much that Westen had to offer so I guess you could say that." I said.

"Oh you study at the same school as Mr. Phantomhive?" Marie asked with curiosity.

"Yes, that's how we met actually, quite the coincidence right?" I said.

"That's wonderful, I hope you two have a nice future together." Marie said winking at me.

"U-Uh I think you have the wrong idea." I said worriedly.

"Oh come on, you can't fool these eyes, maybe I should write a light novel about you two, ah 'young love' isn't that nice."

"Mrs. Wellington I assure you that you most definitely made a mistake, Cie- I mean, Mr. Phantomhive, has a fiancée." I said trying to clear this mess.

"That's a shame." Marie said pouting.

"P-Please, it's no shame, I am sure he loves her very much, but there is nothing going on between us, okay?" I asked.

"Alright if you say so, it was nice getting to know you Miss?" Marie asked.

"Oh, Clarissa Stonewell, it was a pleasure talking to you as well." I said.

"The pleasure was all mine Miss Stonewell. I hope to talk to you again." Marie said walking off.

"Dear lord that was awful." I muttered to myself.

"At least you didn't mess up, besides the stuttering." Derrick said.

"Well, she did catch me off guard with that ridiculous assumption." I said slumping back into a chair.

"What assumption?" Derrick said moving my back away from the chair and straightening out my posture.

"That Ciel-Er, Mr. Phantomhive and I had a relationship status." I said.

"Wow." Derrick said before bursting out in laughter.

"What's so funny?" A man said walking towards us.

"Oh nothing." Derrick said immediately ceasing his laughter.

"Come on now, I like to gossip as well." the man said.

"It's nice to see you doing well, Prime Minister." Ciel said from behind.

"Ah, Earl, how have you been?" he asked.

"I've been doing well." Ciel said.

Derrick signaled for me to get up from my chair and introduce myself.

"It's nice to meet you." I said standing up.

"Oh it's a pleasure for me as well." He said stretching out his hand.

"So I take it you're the Prime Minister of Korea am I correct?" I asked shaking his hand.

_Ow! What the hell was that!?_

"Yes how did you know?" he asked.

"Oh, you see, my uh, care taker here has told me so much about you. Haven't you Derrick?" I asked pulling my hand away quickly.

"Care taker?" the Prime Minister asked.

"Something along the lines of that." Derrick said shaking hands with the man.

"Clary, this is Shan Wu, as I've told you before he is the head of Funtom's Company over in Korea." Derrick said.

"Oh, so that's why you are familiar with Mr. Phantomhive?" I asked.

"Yes that's right." Ciel said.

"How about we go get some drinks?" Derrick asked leading Shan away.

"I have a feeling you don't like Mr. Wu all that much." I whispered.

"Well, I'd have to explain that once we get back to the manor."

I looked down at my hand and saw a bead of red liquid forming.

_I knew I felt something, I wonder what I poked myself with?_

"Lemonade my lady?" Shan said handing me a glass.

"No thank you." I replied.

"I insist." he pleaded.

"Alright then, may I ask where did Derrick go?" I asked taking a sip.

"Oh yes, he had to attend to something. I'm sure he'll be back in no time." Shan said smiling.

Shan handed Ciel and Sebastian a glass as well and Derrick came holding more glasses, they were full of water.

"Why did you bring water?" I asked.

"I was supposed to get drinks wasn't I?" Derrick asked.

"Well it can't be helped." Shan interrupted.

"It was very nice to meet you Miss." Shan continued.

"We didn't talk very much though." I said.

"Its fine, I must be on my way." he said.

"Okay then, have a safe trip." I said before he left the room.

"That was odd." Derrick said placing the water on a nearby table.

"Well, we did what we have to do, can we go now?" I asked.

"Sure, I'm not fond of these things anyway." Ciel said taking a sip of his drink.

"Shall we go?" Sebastian asked.

"Do you need to talk with the Queen Derrick?" I asked.

"No, I explained everything already so it's fine, let's go before anyone else wants to meet you." Derrick said pushing me towards the door.

_God, why is everything so blurry, my head hurts._ I thought to myself as I got out of the carriage. The ride home was as boring as it was the ride to the party, but it was different, my head spun and my vision blurred. It looked like Ciel was the same, he didn't do anything about it either but you can tell he was unsettled.

"Hey Ciel what's wrong?" I said my voice slurred.

"I dunno, I just can't think straight." he replied, his voice uneven as well.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?" Derrick asked.

"I need a band-aid, this thing hurts like hell!" I said holding up my hand that was cut slightly.

"When did that happen?" Ciel asked as he hiccupped.

"I dunno." I said laughing.

_What the hell is wrong with me?! I'm not thinking right what am I saying?!_

"A-Are you drunk?!" Derrick asked grabbing my shoulders and shaking me.

"Whoa! Not too hard my eyes are gunna fly outta my head." I hiccupped.

"Sebastian we have a problem!" Derrick said grabbing Ciel's shirt and mine.

"What the bloody hell happened to you two?" Sebastian asked closing the door.

"What do you mean? I, we're fine!" Ciel hiccupped.

"Ciel, we are not fine! I just dunno what happened!" I said laughing between words.

"It was probably Shan's fault; he was glaring at Clary for a while." Derrick said releasing his grip.

"My head hurts, I feel dizzy." I hiccupped.

"Wait let me see your hand again." Derrick said grabbing my hand.

"Shit!" Derrick gasped.

"What!? There probably isn't anything wrong you pansy!" I shouted.

"Does this look fine to you?" Derrick asked holding out my hand.

It was red and swollen where I was bleeding, the tips of my fingers were turning purple from the lack of blood flow.

"When did that happen?" Sebastian asked.

"Well when that Wu guy shook my hand I felt like something poked my palm but I didn't really pay attention to it." I said.

"Then that settles it, he is an enemy of ours." Ciel hiccupped.

"Sebastian, it's time to do some work!" Ciel hiccupped again.

"Oh no, you are not going to stress yourself any further, we will start tomorrow when you're sober." Sebastian said frowning.

"Eh!? But, but tomorrow is the 25th! It's a holiday we should do something to celebrate!" I said wobbling over to Sebastian.

"No, now both of you have to rest we will figure out what happened to you in the morning, Derrick go find one of the servants' and have them treat Clarissa's hand." Sebastian said.

"Sebby! Lighten up I'm sure it isn't a big deal." I said tugging on his sleeve.

"Sebby?" Sebastian asked.

"Sebby I want some sweets! Make me something." Ciel hiccupped, laughing at what he had said.

"What the hell you too Ciel!?" Derrick shouted.

"At this rate they'll get out of control, I'll handle Ciel you handle Clarissa." Sebastian said picking up Ciel and leading him away.

"Let go of me Sebby!" Ciel shrieked.

"Good luck dealing with that." Derrick sighed.

"I'm tired my head hurts." I said wobbling towards the hall.

"Oh no you don't we have to go check out what's up with your hand." Derrick said grabbing my arm.

"I can't feel it." I said holding out my right hand.

"Which is why we need to go. Who do you think will know more about this?" Derrick asked.

"Well, judging by, how the blood isn't flowing. What do you think it is?" I hiccupped.

"I have an idea, but it's a longshot. Why would he do this though, and how?" Derrick mumbled.

"Where are we going?" I asked as I tried to keep up with the demon.

"To look for someone." Derrick said picking up his pace.

"What if your suspicions are wrong?" I hiccupped.

"Then, you will have one less hand." Derrick laughed nervously.

"Great." I muttered.

"So, what did you drink at the party?" Derrick asked.

"I can't remember, can't we just figure this out in the morning?" I asked tripping over my feet.

"Son of a-" Derrick started as he picked me up.

"Do you even know where you're going!" I shouted trying to adjust my eyes.

"We're here already." Derrick said as he stopped in front of the door.

"S-So we came to Snake?" I asked.

"Yeah, I told you it's a longshot." Derrick said as he opened the door.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." I warned but it was too late.

Snake's snakes shot out of the room and coiled around Derrick hissing softly.

"U-Uh, Snake? Are you in there?" I asked.

"Oh, Clary it's just you, says Dan." Snake said quietly.

The snakes loosened their grasp and Derrick put me on the floor.

"We need your help." Derrick said.

"What kind of help? Says Wordsworth." Snake said.

"Well, we need you to see." Derrick said.

"Come in, says Wordsworth." Snake said.

The room was dark and cold; Snake lit various candles and motioned for us to come in. I saw Dan slither towards me and coiled up my arm. He nodded his head to Wordsworth and then went back to Snake.

"It seems as though someone wasn't too friendly with you, says Wordsworth." Snake said.

"So what's the problem?" Derrick asked.

"Venom, injected from a small needle, used for assassination. Says Dan." Snake said.

"How do we solve this then?" I hiccupped franticly.

"I'll have my family fetch an antidote. How long has your hand been like this? Says Dan." Snake said.

"I'm not sure." I said.

"For about 30 minutes, maybe a bit more." Derrick said.

"This isn't good, can you feel anything? Says Wordsworth." Snake said.

"No, I stopped feeling anything like 5 minutes ago." I hiccupped.

"Hopefully they find it in time." Derrick said.

"I'm sure they will, says Dan." Snake said walking over to a cabinet.

"What are you doing?" Derrick asked.

"We need some supplies other than the antidote, says Wordsworth." Snake said, grabbing a needle and syringe.

"Well I guess you can't complain unless you want to lose a hand right?" Derrick joked and I shot him a cold glare.

"How much longer?" I hiccupped.

"Oh they have it, says Wordsworth." Snake said walking over to a pale yellow snake with a tiny bottle in its mouth.

"That's it? Where did they get it so soon?" I asked.

"Well in order to keep the snakes we must have antidotes just in case, none of the snakes will harm the Earl, but just for safety precautions, says Wordsworth." Snake said drawing out some of the liquid in the bottle.

"This will only take a second, says Dan." Snake said grabbing my arm, he took my wrist and inserted the needle to a vain in the center of my wrist.

Slowly he injected the liquid and I began to gain some feeling in my hand, my fingertips were still purple-ish, but I could feel them at the very least.

"Thank you so much." I whispered patting the three snakes' heads.

"It's fine, says Wordsworth." Snake replied.

"God my head feels like its spinning." I muttered as I walked down the hall, Derrick close behind.

"It's your fault stupid, if you had said something earlier then this wouldn't have happened." Derrick said.

"I didn't think that he did that intentionally!" I yelled and stumbled against the wall.

"You're hopeless." Derrick sighed and picked me up once again.

"Just hurry up." I muttered.

"Close your eyes; it might put strain on them in your condition." Derrick said.

"What do you mean?" I asked but closed them anyway.

"Okay open." Derrick said, I did so and we were already at the front of my room.

"Thanks for being considerate." I said as he put me down.

"If you need anything, you know what to do." Derrick said opening the door.

"Thanks." I said walking in.

I quickly got undressed and put on the night gown. I wrapped a bandage around my hand and fell asleep. I was too tired to think about what happened, why it happened, and how it happened. I would just find out in the morning anyway so why bother?

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A/N: Thank you guys for being patient (I'm such a slow person but who cares!) Thanks for reading and keep the reviews coming!


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Gah! Sorry guys I just got caught up in tests and grades and rehearsals so here is the chapter you've been waiting for once again sorry!

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**Ch.13**

_Clary. Clary wake up, come on. Clary!_

"Damn it! Clary get up!" Ciel shouted.

"God! What?!" I yelled back opening my eyes slightly.

"We have to go and discuss what happened last night." Ciel said

"Fine." I groaned as I got up from the bed.

"Do you need anything?" Ciel asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, considering your injuring I was just asking." Ciel said.

"Oh yeah, well I feel fine, just tired. I wonder why I'm tired though, suspicious huh?" I asked sarcasm clearly there.

"You don't have time to whine; preferably I'd like to find out why we were intoxicated last night." Ciel sighed as we walked through the halls.

"Well I don't see any reason why I can't, and I'd like to know just as much as you do. I just wish it would've been later on that we could figure this out." I said.

"You should get used to being busy." Ciel muttered.

"Well my sleeping pattern has been thrown off just a tiny bit now hasn't it?" I said.

"God you're giving me a bigger headache than needed." Ciel said.

"You're welcome." I hissed entering the study.

"Good morning." Sebastian greeted.

"…sure." I replied sitting down.

"Well it seems as though you and Ciel both had the same morning." Sebastian chuckled.

"Where's Derrick?" I asked.

"Getting some information on his perspective for what happened last night." Sebastian said.

"Great we finally got him to do something." Ciel said.

"How's your hand? It didn't look too good last time I saw it." Sebastian said.

"I'm not sure it's still bandaged and I don't really want to look." I said.

"I understand do you mind if I take a look?" Sebastian asked.

"Ah, sure it doesn't hurt or anything so go ahead." I said.

Sebastian slowly un-wrapped the bandage and Ciel stared with anticipation and worry. Once it came off I hesitated to look and decided to just avert my eyes.

"Is it, bad?" I asked.

"No not at all, just a bit swollen." Sebastian said.

"Oh that's good." I said sighing in relief.

"Alright, I think I have everything I need!" Derrick shouted as he came in.

"Do you have to be so damn loud?!" Ciel shouted.

"Aw, is the little Earl having problems with his hearing?" Derrick teased while Sebastian and I chuckled lightly.

"Alright both of you calm down." Sebastian said finally.

"What's your suspicion?" I asked.

"Well, considering what's happened, I have a feeling that the Prime Minister is behind everything." Derrick started.

"Oh my, how did you ever come up with that? You're so smart and clever!" I beamed.

"Ha, ha, you make me laugh with the amount of sarcasm you can produce when you're mad, and I know we all already know the basics. What I was referring to was that maybe he is involved in the murder cases'." Derrick said.

"That's a possibility, but why would he?" Ciel asked.

"We can go over that later, what else?" I asked.

"He was glaring over at you when we were talking to the Queen right? Well shortly after he came to greet you that was probably when he somehow injected a poison into your hand. You didn't take much notice, but still knew that something had poked you. When we went over for drinks, he told me that one of the guests had requested me to speak with them. By the time I got back I had the water, but you two had already downed the glass of lemonade." Derrick said.

"I see, but Sebastian had one too didn't he?" I asked.

"I don't particularly have a taste in what you humans' eat and drink, that's why I didn't drink it. I didn't sense anything wrong, but then again I was focusing my attention on other things." Sebastian said.

"Still, this doesn't fit, I understand that he didn't mean well, but why would he do that to me as well?" Ciel asked.

"I didn't think of that, but your suspicions are right. The drinks he gave you had to have some sort of alcohol in it which explains what happened last night. I don't know if he intended to kill anyone, but we should take caution." Derrick finished.

"So is that all? We still have to find out if he is linked to the multiple murders', how do you intend to get that?" I asked.

"Simple, we wait for him to make the first move." Ciel said.

"That could take weeks maybe months!" I said.

"If that's the case then we have to wait, it isn't such a short process, for now you have to be careful. We don't know what he'll try to do next." Sebastian said.

"It's not like she'll be going anywhere any time soon, we don't get off of vacation until January 14th." Ciel said.

"Well that's plenty of time to train and study." Sebastian said.

"W-Wait we don't even know if the Queen agreed to have me work alongside you two." I said.

"On the contrary, we will know as soon as Ciel reads this." Sebastian said pulling out a letter from his coat.

"Oh god no." I muttered as Sebastian handed the letter to Ciel.

"Well what does it say?" I asked as I stared at Ciel's blank expression.

"It looks like you are going to have to study hard; she has given permission for you to work with her guard." Ciel said smirking.

"Guard _Dog_." I teased back and was returned with a glare.

"What else does it say?" Derrick asked.

"Actually, she has requested for you, Derrick, to be Clary's loyal servant and not leave her side." Sebastian said.

"Well that won't be a problem." Derrick muttered.

"Is that all?" I asked.

"Seems like it, looks like you _do_ have more work ahead of you." Ciel said.

"Well what exactly do I have to do?" I asked.

"Sebastian." Ciel said.

"Certainly." Sebastian started.

"Well at your age most adults see you as a child, which is something that we definitely do not want. We have to work on your studies, you also have to learn more about the Funtom company and how to handle its' properties, you won't have to worry about the company as much since I take care of most of it. Furthermore, you already have basic self-defense training, what we have to work on is your ability to utilize your skills. For example, no matter how much training you get, or blood-shed you encounter, will you be able to kill your enemy if you had the right opening?" Sebastian continued.

"That does seem like a bit much, but if I have to do this then I have no choice do I?" I asked.

"We don't have to start today, but thank you for understanding your new position." Sebastian said.

"What about Derrick?" I asked.

"What about me? I don't need any training what so ever." Derrick said.

"On the contrary, you have to start showing up to your classes, try not to draw too much attention to yourself, and try not to interact with us too often. It will start to look suspicious." Sebastian explained.

"Good, I didn't intend to interact with you anyway." Derrick said.

"I will be in the Violet Wolf dorms starting on the 15th though. What do we do then?" I asked.

"Well considering the circumstances, it would seem pretty normal for you to talk to Derrick. As for Ciel and I, I'll try to keep your classes the same." Sebastian said.

"Now that we got that out of the way what are we supposed to do for the time being?" Derrick asked.

"It is still pretty early, what should we do?" Ciel asked.

"Today is the 25th isn't it? Doesn't that mean-" Sebastian started before being cut off by the door bursting open.

"Ciiiiiiiiieeeeeeellll!" The blond shrieked before jumping by Ciel's side.

"E-Elizabeth!?" Ciel stuttered.

_Crap!_

"Well it was nice to discuss this matter with you, meeting disband!" I said grabbing Derrick's hand and running out of the room.

"What's the big deal?" Derrick asked as we finally stopped.

"Well, first, I am not wearing regular clothes, second, I have no cover what so ever for my contract seal, and third, Elizabeth is just the slightest bit annoying don't you think?" I said.

"Well, that last part was a bit harsh don't you think?" Derrick said.

"Harsh, but admit it, you find her annoying too." I said.

"Well, a little, yea. Anyway you should probably go get dressed and go back to apologize for the sudden disappearance." Derrick said.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it now you go too." I said shooing him off.

_I wonder what she's doing here anyway, sure it is Christmas and all, but doesn't she know that Ciel has work, or at least doesn't really want to celebrate anything? Well that doesn't matter now, I'm happy that I won't be bored for the rest of the day. My head still hurts though, why would the Prime Minister want me out of the way? What did I ever do to provoke him I never even met him before, but why would he do the same to Ciel too? Argh! Enough of this I should really just do some research of my own._

I entered my room and threw on the closest thing I could find, wrapped a bandage around my neck and slipped on some flat platform shoes.

_Today seems off, it just seems as though it's too normal today._

I ignored the suspicion and headed back to the study.

"Sorry for earlier, I just needed to attend to something that I forgot about earlier." I said opening the door to the study.

"Oh it's no problem at all." Elizabeth said cheerfully.

"So remind me again, why are you here?" Ciel asked irritated.

"T-That's kind of rude considering Lady Elizabeth came all the way here just to spend some quality time with you." I said.

"See? At least Clary here understands." Elizabeth chimed.

"I have things to do though." Ciel sighed.

"But Ciel, I just wanted to celebrate today with you that's all." Elizabeth said, her cheerful mood slowly vanishing.

"I just want you to be happy." She started, her voice clearly wavering with emotions.

"I-I just, p-please I didn't mean for you to cry over such nonsen-" Ciel started.

"What he means is, that he had no intention of hurting your feelings, it's just that since you showed up unexpectedly, he had no time to postpone his plans." I interrupted.

"Y-Yes, I'm sorry Elizabeth. Would you mind giving me some time to sort things out? In the meantime, why don't you and Sebastian go decorate, or make some sweets? You love Sebastian's cakes don't you?" Ciel said.

"Alrighty then, I'll see you in a bit." Elizabeth said her mood lightening up rapidly.

"That was a close call." I sighed as they left the room.

"Don't you feel bad at all for leaving her with Sebastian?" I asked.

"No, not at all, at least he can tolerate her." Ciel said shuffling through papers.

"This seems like good practice, why don't you sort through these papers and see what you can get done?" he asked.

"Do I have to?" I muttered.

"Would you rather have 'fun' with Elizabeth? I'm sure she'd be glad to drive you nuts." Ciel said smirking.

"I'm not appreciating the sarcasm, and fine." I said.

"Just find something you can do, maybe just sort out the files by date. Also please keep the damage to a minimum." Ciel said.

"Wait where are you going, I am going to need help with these." I said.

"I think you can manage." Ciel said with a quick smirk and zipped out of the room.

"Damn him, how the hell am I supposed to do this?" I muttered.

I shuffled through the many papers on his desk and sorted them into different piles. The dates differed from the 12th of December stretching to the 5th of February.

_Wow, so this is the life of the Queen's guard dog huh?_

I came across a few peculiar papers, one of the files read "Funtom Co."

_Isn't that the name of his company?_

"Wow, his life is a lot harder than I thought it was." I whispered to myself.

Once I finished sorting out the papers and stacked them neatly into piles I decided to look through some of the past papers for reference on what to do. Just my luck, there were none.

_What now? I have no idea what to do, and no one is telling me what to do._

A cold chill ran down my spine as I felt a draft pass by me. I looked over my shoulder and the window was opened slightly, the sky was a pale gray. I closed the window tightly and continued to stack the papers in the drawers of the desk.

_Should I leave the recent ones on the desk or have the older ones so he could finish those?_

I left a pile of older and a couple of the more recent papers on the corners of his desk.

_He'd better thank me for this._

I quietly left the room and walked down the hall and proceeded to the servants' quarters.

_After all I did leave Gynx with Finny, I wonder how he's holding up?_

I knocked on the door with the name plate that read Finnian, but no answer. I knocked again this time with more force, but no answer once again.

_That's right; he's probably out in the garden. But he wouldn't take a kitten with him would he? Well he is unpredictable so I wouldn't doubt it._

I took a shortcut and ended up outside in no time, the manor was so big that it was bound to have some sort of secret passage ways. I checked the front gardens' but Finny wasn't there, the air was cold and it was pretty windy too. I headed to another side of the manor and ended up in a maze of bushes, luckily I could see the blond trimming a high hedge.

"Finny!" I shouted loud enough for him to hear me.

"Oh Miss Clary! Good morning!" he shouted back and climbed down the ladder he was standing on.

"Am I interrupting?" I asked as he came closer.

"Nah, just some regular work." Finny replied cheerfully.

"Are you sure I could always come back another time." I said.

"No it's fine, so how did it go yesterday? It seemed as though you were in a hurry." Finny asked.

"Yesterday was pretty rough, but it seemed like we were able to manage, where's Gynx?" I asked.

"Oh Gynx? He's down in the cellar with Plu-Plu." Finny said.

"W-With Pluto? Are you sure that was a good idea?" I asked my voice wavering.

"Yeah, something wrong you seem worried." Finny asked.

"W-Well I wouldn't say wrong, it's just, I don't think that they get along so well." I said.

"Let's go check on them then, I want to show you that there is nothing wrong with that." Finny said grabbing my hand.

"Thanks." I said simply.

It was a quiet walk there neither of us knew what to talk about and the silence was harsh, every time either one of us looked like we were going to say something we quickly stopped in our tracks. Luckily it didn't take long to get to the cellar, as Finny slowly unlocked it there was a loud noise on the other side of the door.

"Is that normal?" I asked.

"Completely normal, it happens all the time." Finny explained as he turned the knob.

"You might want to move to the side." Finny whispered.

"Huh?" I said before he opened the door.

A white figure sprung out of the room and crashed into the stone wall behind us. Luckily I took his advice and moved out of the way just as the door burst open.

"I told you to move, he gets like this when he's locked up for a while." Finny said chuckling.

"U-Uh h-he's not wearing clothes!" I blurted out as I turned away.

"Ye- wait what?!" Finny screamed and a loud thump echoed from behind me.

_Should I, look? I mean, I really do not want to, but is he okay?_

"F-Finny? Is everything alright?" I asked.

"Yea, he occasionally jumps on people from time to time, well the majority of the tome. Hold on a sec I'll go get something to cover him up." Finny said.

"K-Kay." I said burying my face in my hands.

_What the hell? I just wanted to get the kitten and now there is a naked wolf-human hybrid jumping on people?_

"Clary, you can come down here now, watch your step." I heard Finny say.

I turned around to find no one in sight. There was a pile of dust and chipped bricks from the wall that Pluto had run into.

"Finny?" I asked.

"Down in the cellar." I heard him call.

"Oh, right." I said descending down into the cellar.

It was dark and lit by dim candle-light, there were only a couple of steps, but some were badly worn and cracked under my feet.

"Be careful, it's unpredictable down here." Finny said.

"I can see that." I muttered as I stepped down the last step.

"Here you go, see nothing bloodied or broken." Finny said with a smile handing me Gynx.

"Thank you, and I hope he didn't cause any trouble." I said putting Gynx on my shoulder.

"Nope not at all, if there's anything else you need don't hesitate to ask, also, you look flushed are you sick?" Finny asked putting his hand on my forehead.

"U-Uh no I'm fine thanks for worrying but I'm completely fine." I said franticly.

"Are you sure, your forehead is a bit warm, well just in case you should get some rest, the weather has been harsh." Finny said.

"Okay, I'll be going up to my room then." I said turning to walk up the steps.

Just as I was about to go up the steps something hard hit me with a great force and sent me falling to the ground. My hands outstretched attempted to catch myself but just hit the floor along with the rest of me.

_What the hell was that? Ow._

The room was dark and smelled of something burning.

_Of course the candles went out didn't they?_

I tried to sit up but there was an immense amount of weight on top of me. My chest hurt and it was hard to breathe or even move, half of my body was being crushed by something I couldn't see and I didn't know where to go at all.

"Clary?" I heard Finny cough.

"Clary, are you okay? Where are you?" he coughed again.

"I'm not sure." I said my breath hitched as I tried to say more.

"Hold on, I'll try to find some sort of light." Finny said.

There was a loud scratching sound, sort of like rocks grinding against each other. Then a faint light formed at the corner of my eye.

"What happened?" I managed to say but it still felt as though I were suffocating.

"I can't see much, but it looks like the side-wall collapsed, I wonder how, are you okay? Where are you?" Finny said coughing again.

"If you can barely see, then I'm not much help either. Just follow the sound of my voice." I said coughing on some dust.

"Jesus! What the hell happened down here?!" I heard someone say.

"We need some help; I'm not sure how much damage there is." Finny said.

"Are you two okay? The door is budged but I think I can open it." the voice said coming closer.

"Somewhat." I groaned tilting my head towards the entrance.

My eyes narrowed as the harsh light streamed in from the open door and the figure came in.

"Derrick?" I asked as the figure came into focus.

"Clary?" Derrick replied his eyes widening as if he saw a monster.

"Wow thanks for the nice greeting." I coughed.

"Now isn't the time for jokes, how is she?" Finny asked.

"Not that good, but first let's get you out of here, I'll come back for her afterwards." Derrick said.

"Don't you think you should get Clary first?" Finny asked.

"Just trust me, where are you?" Derrick asked.

"Over in the left corner, I think." Finny said coughing.

"I'll be right there, there's just a bunch of debris everywhere." Derrick said stepping over the rubble.

"Come on, try to hurry and go get Sebastian if you can." Derrick said his voice becoming louder as he walked back with Finny.

"I don't seem to have any injuries, but by the looks of it I might get some trying to get out." Finny said climbing over the rocks.

"Be careful." Derrick said, his footsteps coming closer.

"Does it hurt anywhere?" he asked.

"Other than having something on top of me, my lungs being crushed and not being able to move, no." I said.

"Please just answer the question." Derrick said desperation in his voice.

_Is it really that bad?_

"My chest hurts and I can't move. Also it hurts to talk so let's keep it to a minimum." I said gasping for air.

The weight on top of me gradually lessened but was still there.

"Thank you." I sighed in relief.

"For what I haven't done anything." Derrick said.

"But-" I started before being cut off.

"Um, I don't want to alarm you, but there is something moving near you, or possibly on top of you.

The weight on top of me shifted and more rubble started to fall off me, the debris landed hard on my arms as something moved off me.

"Yea um, Clary, there's someone on top of you, never mind that let's get you out of here." Derrick said pushing off the weight that was restricting me.

"What do you mean?" I asked trying to sit up.

"Nothing, let's go." Derrick said helping me up.

_Fuck, my legs hurt, my arms hurt, my chest aches and everything else feels sore and numb. If that even makes sense. I feel light-headed; did I even hit my head?_

"Hey Clary are you feeling alright?" Derrick asked.

"To be truthfully honest, hell no." I said my legs wobbling.

"Well at least you are being honest." Derrick said picking me up.

"Wait what about the thing you said that was on top of me?" I asked.

"Are you alright?" I heard someone shout.

I looked in front of me and tried to focus my eyesight on the thing running toward us. There was more than one person, but I couldn't make it out. My eyes burned and my head wasn't functioning as well as I wanted it to. Never have I ever wanted to look at someone so much as I did at that moment.

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Hope you guys like it thanks for reading and keep reviewing!


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Just a quick note, the names for the extra characters in this story are not meant to match people in real life, if I have the same name as someone just so you know it was not intended to be the same. All the names I've been using are completely made up because I just thought of them form the back of my mind. Also in this chapter, and in future chapters, there will be a change in scenes. Those will be indicated by "|/|" just to let you know!**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

Just to let you know

**Ch.14**

"Who's there?" I asked, my vision was blurring no matter how much I squinted my eyes.

"Can't you see? They aren't so far away." Derrick said.

"No, it's blurry and I can't really make out who it is. Other than that I can sort of see them." I replied.

"What the hell happened?" Ciel screamed.

"Oh dear this isn't good!" A voice said from behind.

"Elizabeth?" I asked completely astonished at the blonde standing behind Ciel.

"It seems as though the wall collapsed, or that's what Finnian had informed me about, none the less are you okay?" Sebastian asked.

"Somewhat." I murmured.

"No, she definitely isn't 'somewhat' okay or okay for that matter. Her eyesight has been affected by the amount of dust and debris that went into her eyes, and maybe her leg is fractured. Sprained at most, what about Finny?" Derrick finished asking.

"He seems fine just a few scratches and a sprained wrist is all, how did you figure out what was wrong with Clarissa?" Sebastian asked.

"Basic observation, it wasn't too hard to deduce what was wrong, first of all her walking pattern was wildly thrown off, she couldn't see who it was coming down the hall, and there was something on top of her too." Derrick said.

"Something was on top of her? What was it?" Elizabeth gasped in horror.

"I don't know but it should still be down there in the cellar." Derrick said.

"S-Should we go check it out?" Elizabeth asked clinging onto Ciel.

"No, Sebastian, Derrick and I will check it out shortly, you will stay with Clary alright?" Ciel said and Elizabeth nodded.

"Come on, it isn't that bad, I can walk and see just fine." I said motioning for Derrick to put me down, but to no avail.

"Derrick. Put me down." I said sternly this time.

"No, you are in no condition to be walking around and risking further injury." Derrick said tightening his grip.

"Why won't you listen to my orders!? Put me down!" I hissed.

"I know you order me to do otherwise, but the health and safety of my young mistress comes before anything else." Derrick said.

"Sebastian and Ciel, go check out the cellar, I'll be right there in a minute or so." he said.

"Alright, Elizabeth, please go back with them and stay there." Ciel said turning towards the cellar.

"O-Okay, please be careful." Elizabeth said.

"Damn you." I hissed in Derrick's ear.

"Someone doesn't intend to play nice." Derrick said smirking.

"I already said I can handle this myself." I growled lowly.

"Lady Elizabeth, once I have one of the servants look over Clarissa's injuries, can you make sure she doesn't go anywhere?" Derrick asked the worried blonde that was walking at a slow pace behind us.

"Sure." Elizabeth replied.

"Eliza- Lizzy, there is no need for that. I can manage on my own but thank you for worrying." I said.

"Oh it's alright, I'd be glad to be of some help." Elizabeth replied cheerfully.

"I appreciate you for offering but I sincerely do not need any help." I pleaded.

"Don't listen to her; she just doesn't like being a damsel in distress." Derrick whispered to Elizabeth.

"Why you, I swear you'll regret this." I said through gritted teeth.

"And you will regret thinking that you were alright." Derrick replied.

"So where are we going?" Elizabeth asked.

"To her room, after that I'll call Mey-Rin to see to her injuries, that's why I need you to watch her and make sure she doesn't leave the room." Derrick explained.

"We're almost there anyway." I barked.

"Why are you angry?" Elizabeth asked.

"I'm not angry, more, irritated is all." I confided.

"I thought you'd be more worried than irritated though." Elizabeth replied softly.

"Well, I'm not worried, honestly I feel fine and I just want to see what happened down there so-" I started before I was abruptly cut off.

"We're here, now you'd better stay in bed while I go get Mey-Rin." Derrick warned, opening the door to my room.

"I'll stand guard!" Elizabeth stammered.

"Behave yourself for the time being." Derrick said smirking.

"Why should I? Don't I have the right to know what happened?" I asked.

"Considering your injuries you won't be of much help." Derrick replied placing me on the bed.

"I'll be back shortly." Derrick said again leaving the room.

|/|

"This place is filthy." Ciel said choking on the dust in the air.

"How does this even happen?" Sebastian inquired.

"How should I know?" Ciel replied.

"What's that?" Sebastian asked pointing to a dark corner of the room.

"Pluto?!" Ciel said in surprise.

The white haired figure was covered in scratches and dust; he walked towards them weakly but managed to make his way across the rubble.

"What the hell happened?" Derrick said coming down the steps.

"Well, I'm not sure, any ideas?" Ciel asked.

"Nothing, I have no idea how to go about this. So far we have three injured, no leads to what happened, and the only witness can't speak." Sebastian stated.

"That's right, maybe he can re-enact it though?" Derrick said hopefully.

"I doubt he can in this condition." Ciel said.

"Wait a minute, I remember having to push something aside earlier when I was helping Clary up, maybe it was him." Derrick said analyzing the situation.

"Who Pluto, honestly why would he be on top of her, maybe it was something else." Ciel said.

"I'm more than sure of it." Derrick replied.

"He is completely harmless though, so I don't see any reason in why he would do such a thing." Sebastian contemplated.

"If that's the case then why was he on top of her?" Derrick countered.

"I'm not sure about that, in any case we should probably have someone see to his injuries as well and investigate this more after we check up on everything." Ciel addressed.

"The first thing we have to know is how the wall collapsed, why Pluto was on top of Clary and why I keep hearing some sort of noise behind me." Derrick said trailing off.

"Hear what?" Ciel asked.

"Something that I can't quite describe. It's coming from over here." Derrick replied.

He stepped carefully around the large pile of bricks and bent down at the base of the broken wall.

"I think I found something fairly important." Derrick twitted holding up the small feline.

"How is that thing important?" Ciel barked.

_Oh shit I don't think I was supposed to bring this up in front of Ciel._ Derrick thought to himself.

"W-Well in any case we should probably go get Pluto treated." Derrick stammered.

"F-Fine, but I'm going to ask you about that thing later alright?" Ciel added.

"What's in his mouth?" Sebastian asked as Derrick came closer with the kitten.

"Huh?" Derrick said turning the kitten to face him.

"What the hell?"

|/|

"Please sit back down Clary!" Elizabeth whined.

"I can't just sit here and do nothing!" I asserted.

"Well you're just going to have to, because I do not intend to let you leave." Elizabeth replied sternly.

"I know you just want to help but Mey-Rin already took care of my injuries." I pleaded.

"I'm aware of that but I'm still not going to let you leave, if you need anything just inform me." Elizabeth said stepping out of the room.

_Wow she's much more of an airhead than I thought._

I quickly sprang from my bed and darted for the door. I tried to turn the knob but the door wouldn't budge.

_What the hell!?_

I tried pulling and pushing but it was useless. I tried to look under the door to see what was blocking the way and only saw a pair of red shoes.

_Lizzy?! How is she holding the door? Damn it I'll just find some other way!_

I moved away from the door and rummaged through every inch of the room, I stopped to look out the window.

_A bit too high? Well it could work, but I kind of don't want to die today._

I opened the window and felt the cold breeze hit my face. The sky was still pale and gray, the view from up here made everything look so small.

_Should I really be doing this?_

I propped myself on my knees against the window sill when the door burst open.

"C-Crap!" I yelped before hitting my head against the wall.

"What the hell were you doing?" Derrick yelled pulling me from the window.

"N-Nothing, just looking out of the window is all." I stammered.

"Looking out of the window my ass, come on!" Derrick barked dragging me out of the room.

"Where's Elizabeth?" I asked.

"Heading home, Ciel convinced her to leave while we take care of this." Derrick said.

"So now can I go see what happened?" I asked.

"No, we have to know what the last thing you remember was." Derrick said.

"The last thing I remember is being hit really hard by something when I was going to get out of the cellar." I started.

"That doesn't help much." Derrick muttered.

"Well what do you want me to say then!?" I snapped.

"Just, say what you know when we re-group." Derrick sighed.

"Fine." I said pouting.

We were walking down the same hall we usually did when we were heading to the study but it looked much more blurry.

"So how's Finny doing?" I asked, while squinting my eyes to look further down the hall.

"Oh Finny, last I checked he was doing just fine." Derrick said.

"That's good to hear." I sighed in relief.

"Are you okay? You seem a bit, off." Derrick asked slowing his pace.

"I'm fine, just thinking." I answered.

"Thinking about what?" Derrick asked.

"Do you absolutely know everything that I do?" I stressed.

"Well, no I'm just curious." Derrick stated.

"Curiosity killed the cat." I said smirking.

"But satisfaction brought it back." Derrick countered giving a sly smile.

"There you are!" Ciel exclaimed.

"Yea, alive and breathing, for now." I said softly.

"Now isn't the time for jokes, come on." Ciel pronounced.

"How are you feeling?" Sebastian asked.

"Good, how's everyone else?" I inquired.

"They're fine, just a bit worried." Sebastian replied.

"We found this left in the rubble." Derrick said holding up the kitten.

"Gyn-" I started.

"Before you say anything, why was he down there?" Ciel abruptly cut in.

"Well, you see-" I started again.

"From the beginning please." Derrick said.

"Geez! Let me speak already!" I fumed.

"Go on." Sebastian said.

"At least _someone_ is nice." I sighed.

"Just hurry up." Derrick retorted.

"I left Gynx with Finny the day we left to meet with the Queen, I forgot about him so since I was bored I decided to go get him. I looked for Finny and found him in the garden, after that I asked where he left Gynx. He said that he left Gynx with Pluto in the cellar; I was worried about that because I didn't know how Pluto would've reacted to Gynx. So we went down into the cellar and um, well, Pluto made a dent in the wall outside the door, I didn't look at what happened after that. But, skipping to when I was inside the cellar, I got Gynx and was about to head up the stairs when something crashed into me and that's all I remember clearly." I finished.

"Well that explains why Gynx was inside the cellar." Derrick said.

"Did you see anything, different, about Gynx?" Ciel asked.

"No, why?" I countered.

"Well when we went down there, Derrick found this with Gynx." Sebastian said holding out a handful of wires.

"What are those?" I asked.

"We believe them to be a sort of fuse, for a minor explosion which triggered while you were down there causing the wall to collapse." Ciel stated.

"_What?_" I asked, my throat felt like it was dry and twisted.

"How does that happen? No one else was here in the time that we were gone." I said.

"So then, that explains why something crashed into you." Derrick started.

"What do you mean?" Sebastian asked.

"Pluto was not even in much of her story, so when the fuse went off, maybe Pluto pushed, or tried to push her out of the way. Otherwise why was he on top of her? So maybe he tried to take the blow for her." Derrick said.

"Okay, I'm not following, where's Pluto now that I think about it I didn't see him after that." I said.

"He should be with Finny." Sebastian said.

"Is he okay?" I asked.

"Well, he wasn't too bad or good when we found him." Derrick added.

"Then I want to see him." I said and headed for the door.

"Wait; there are other things we need to handle." Ciel said.

"I don't care, I want to see him!" I snapped.

"If it weren't for me then he would've been fine, this was my fault and I want to take responsibility for what I do, do you really want to stop me?" I questioned.

"Well, no, but it wasn't your fault." Ciel said.

"Oh really? Then whose fault was it? The wall, the cat's, Finny's, no it was me. Did Pluto jump in front of Finny? No he jumped in front of me, so I take it that it would be just a tad bit nice if I went and checked up on him." I proclaimed and stormed out of the room.

"Just don't argue with her. It would be useless; once she sets her mind o something then she won't let a few simple words get in her way." Derrick said.

"We have to figure this out one way or another, it could take longer if Clary won't cooperate." Ciel said slumping back on his chair.

"It'll take longer, but we'd be nowhere without her." Sebastian added.

* * *

**Short chapter I know, sorry for the late-ness I have a lot going on but thanks for sticking with me and don't forget to review!**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: I looked over the previous chapter that was published and saw an error that can confuse many, so I changed it and now for the readers who have already read the last chapter, to clear up the mess, the symbol indicating a switch is "|/|". Once again just a heads up the "|/|****" Is basically a switch in scenes and/or point of view. Making sure there isn't any confusion. C'mon guys, if you see an error tell me I don't want to look as stupid as I feel 3**

**Please Enjoy!**

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**Ch.15**

_I don't even know him, so why would he do that? If anything I tried to avoid him and leave him out. He would do the same wouldn't he? We never interacted, or got to know each other, so why the hell did he put himself in danger like that!?_

"Hu-wait where am I running off to?" I said to myself as I slowed down my pace.

"I guess I should just find Finny, they said that Pluto should be with him right?" I whispered as I continued to walk down the various halls.

_Shit, I can't see anything! Why is everything so dark?_

I descended to the servants' quarters and heard something come from the end of the hall.

"Maybe they're there." I mumbled to myself as I stepped towards the door.

"Ow! Mey-Rin I thought I told you I'm fine! It's Plu-Plu that you need to take care of." Finny said sternly from behind the door.

"I know that but your cuts will get infected if you don't clean them properly!" Mey-Rin countered.

"H-Hello?" I stuttered knocking on the door.

"Clary? Come on in you don't have to knock." Finny said.

"How are you two?" I asked opening the door slowly.

"Fine more or less, what about you?" Finny inquired.

I looked around the small room, Pluto was nowhere in sight, the cabinets were full of medicines and herbs. Finny was sitting on a bed with bandages on several parts of his arms and face.

"I'm fine, if it weren't for Pluto, how is he?" I urged.

"Well I'm not that sure, he doesn't seem to have any vital injuries but he should be sleeping right about now." Finny stated.

"Do you know where?" I asked.

"Nope, why don't you just ask the Young Master and Mister Sebastian?" Finny said.

"Well we aren't on good terms at the moment, but I guess I have to." I muttered.

"I'm glad you're alright though, thanks for your help." I said again and left the room.

"Damn it! I don't want to go back and ask them where Pluto is! I just, I just want to see if he's alright without having to deal with those idiots." I muttered to myself.

_I'll just have to find him myself. It shouldn't be that hard right? Well considering the problems I have right now then I don't have an advantage point right now. I guess I have to go with plan B. Okay, now I have to think of a plan B._

"Geez! What do I do?!" I yelled as I leaned against the wall and slumped down to sit on the floor.

_Okay, think, where would I take an injured person if not a room with medicine? He won't be down in the servants' quarters I was just there, he won't be back in the cellar, but I don't know where else he would be. In one of the guest rooms? Hell, there are hundreds here. Or at least I think, either way it would be near impossible if I look through each one. Maybe one that actually has some supplies; most of the rooms are completely vacant so they wouldn't leave him there. They'd have to have left him in a room that has already been used or is being used._

"That's it!" I yelled once more getting up and dashing down the hall.

"Now I if I remember correctly then his room should be….here!" I said as I came to a stop at the edge of the hall.

I knocked softly on the door and listened for any sign of a response. I stayed for a few minutes but still no answer.

"Damn, I was sure that he'd be here." I said as I leaned against the door to Derrick's room to think again.

_Okay, if he isn't here, then where else would he be. He definitely wouldn't be outside, but-Maybe his own room! Or cage? Or, where exactly do they leave him anyway? I remember Finny showed me once, but where was it!_

I ran towards the nearest exit and made my way around to the garden where I first met Finny, if there was one place I remember seeing Pluto it was there. The light from the sky was dull, and colorless. It looked like it were going to rain, but it didn't show any signs of doing so. I looked across the building over and over but didn't recognize anything familiar. Until I went around a corner and found the caged opening, I ran towards it and crouched down to see in it. It was dimly lit but I saw Pluto inside there, he was lying in the bed with a cloth on his forehead.

"Pluto!" I shrieked softly, I didn't want to startle him of course.

He still lay there expressionless; not moving a single muscle, the only thing that showed a sign of life was his chest slowly heaving up and down as he took a ragged breath.

"How do I get in there? I can't possibly remember where to go when I'm inside the manor." I whispered to myself.

I shook the bars violently until one loosened, it was only a little but still something I could work with. I examined the other bars, all seven of them were rusty and old-looking, if I put a certain amount of force into them, then I might be able to pull them apart. I shook the loosened bar even more but nothing happened. I stood up shakily and started putting all my force into feet which were beginning to kick at the bar. I managed to break it off a bit; I crouched down once again and took hold of the freed lower half of the bar. I tightened my grip and pulled on it. It was much tougher than I expected, no matter which way I pulled or bent it, it wouldn't come loose.

"What the hell? Now you decide to be stubborn!" I yelled in anger as I stood up.

_Okay, I was able to loosen a bar, that's great. Now what? I can't possibly give up now. I can do this._

I leaned down and grabbed the bar, after thinking of various ways to go about the situation at hand I decided to wing it. I held the bar tightly and started to hit the other end of it with a rock. I slammed it harder and harder against the rod until it finally broke off. The end I was hitting with a rock had a wickedly sharp point that I avoided to touch.

"Alright, I got one of them off, now what about the rest? I don't plan on doing the same with them because that was a hassle just for one." I mumbled to myself.

I crouched down again with the bar in my hand, I poked the sharp end and it immediately broke skin.

"Crap." I muttered and watched as the blood trickled from my finger.

_I guess I could use this to try to take out the rest right?_

I took the sharp edge of the rod and aimed it at one of the bars. Steadily I rammed it at the base of it I did this repeatedly until I got all the bars out of the way. I cautiously slid into the entrance but got my clothes stuck on the ragged edges left from the bars. I heard a tearing sound and fell hard onto the floor.

"O-Ouch." I mumbled and sat up.

I looked around the room which was vacant besides Pluto lying on the bed. He still hadn't move, even with the entire ruckus I was causing. Something definitely isn't right. I quickly got up and stumbled across to where he was sleeping. I moved the cloth and touched his forehead lightly. It was burning.

"C-Crap what do I do?!" I panicked and looked around the room for anything I could use.

_Just my luck, there isn't anything in here!_

"Pluto! Hey Pluto wake up!" I hissed softly, there wasn't any response or even a grunt of displeasure.

_He definitely is "sleeping" that's for sure; I should go tell Ciel and the others._

I opened the door to the room and found myself in a place I have no record of. The halls looked like a maze and there was no other source of light in sight.

"Great, just great, I'm pretty sure I can't climb up the wall and get out the way I came in huh?" I muttered.

_Guess I have no choice._

"Derrick come get me now!" I yelled and the mark on my neck glowed red.

Not a moment sooner and the familiar pink-ish cat eyes were before me again.

"You called?" Derrick said.

"Yea, I'm lost. Would you mind taking me back to Ciel's study?" I said innocently.

"Hah, drop the act." Derrick said.

"Well I thought it'd be a nice change of pace, I guess you didn't like it. Well what are you waiting for take me there already idiot." I said sternly.

"See, that's the mistress I know." Derrick said his tone light.

"Should I take that as a compliment or..?" I started.

"Well anyway, there is something definitely off with Pluto." I continued.

"What do you mean?" Derrick asked.

"When I went to see how he was doing, it appeared as though he were asleep. Finny and Mey-Rin told me he was, so I took minor notice of that. His breathing was definitely ragged and forced, it was weak and his forehead was burning. Even with the, erm, noise I was making, he still didn't wake up."

"Okay, slow down just a bit, let me get this straight. You came down here to see him, and got lost on your way back?" Derrick questioned.

"Not exactly and I'm not stupid enough to get lost somewhere that I've already been."

"Oh really?" Derrick sneered.

"Shut up! I went out through the back, that's why I made a lot of noise." I said showing the tattered and torn part of fabric around my waist. Not like he would pay any attention to it.

"What do you mean you went out through the back?" Derrick asked.

"Ugh, do I really have to explain? Can't you just, push aside my actions until I finish talking this over with Ciel and Sebastian?" I countered.

"Fine." Derrick said hoisting me over his shoulder.

"W-Wait what-!?" I screamed in an effort at the unexpected move.

|/|

"We know that there was a bomb planted at the base of the cellar. We don't know what triggered it, nor do we know who put it there in the first place. We don't know when it was placed either. Not too long ago the Prime Minister, Shan Wu, 'attacked' us at the meeting with the queen. Which leaves us with one suspect in doing this. Now the question is, when he planted the bomb." Ciel explained.

"Nicely structured theory, but considering your position, couldn't it have been another person besides Mr. Wu? He is indeed a smart and cunning man so I doubt he would strike just a day after his first attack." Sebastian countered.

"True, but we still don't know, we need more evidence, but how do we get it?" Ciel contemplated.

"It is true on your part that Mr. Wu is the most suspected of this predicament." Sebastian said.

"Who was the culprit initially after though? In doing this he harmed 3 people." Ciel said.

"Don't forget the kitten." Sebastian asserted jokingly.

"Don't remind me of that nuisance." Ciel warned.

"It can't be helped, it isn't like I have a choice to get rid of it do I?" he continued.

"Speaking of which do you think she'll be back any time soon?" Sebastian asked.

"That I'm not certain of, she did seem insistent on finding Pluto." Ciel answered.

"Not a moment too soon." Sebastian murmured, opening the door.

|/|

"Well that saves me the trouble of knocking." I said lowering my hand.

"What took so long?" Ciel asked impatiently.

"I don't think you want to use that tone of voice at the moment. _Try looking just a bit harder_." Derrick whispered to Ciel.

"What was that I couldn't quite hear you?" I said.

"Nothing." Derrick replied hastily.

I took a slight look at Ciel; he was concentrating really hard on something. Trying not to make eye contact at all, but observing my every move. I didn't take much notice of it; everything he did had a purpose. Besides my tattered appearance was distracting as it is so maybe that was what he was focusing on.

"Something the matter?" I asked Ciel.

"I'm not sure if I should ask." he replied pointing at the torn fabric around my waist and ankles.

"Long story, to minimize it you could say that next time I'll try to avoid the sharp bars protruding out of the sides of Pluto's…room?" I said trying to simplify my explanation.

"What are we going to do with you?" Ciel sighed heavily.

"Look, pushing all this aside, there is something wrong with Pluto. I don't know what, but we'd better find out and fast." I said.

"Judging by how forceful the blow was I'm sure he isn't fine, any normal person would be in critical condition." Sebastian added.

"And Pluto isn't any difference, he needs medical attention." I pushed on.

"Okay, but you have to get medical attention too." Derrick added.

"I don't need any medical attention I'm perfectly fine." I said.

"Oh really? Can you try reading this?" Derrick asked scribbling on a piece of paper and holding it up.

"Fine." I replied sighing and walking towards the demon.

"What do you think you're doing?" Derrick asked.

"Doing what you told me to." I said.

"No, you stand at the opposite of me." he added.

"What does this have to do with anything?" I asked angrily and walking towards the opposite corner.

"Is here fine." I said trying to be patient.

"There is perfect." he said smirking.

_Crap, I can't see it, it's too blurry. What do I say? Did he even write it big enough for me to see? It looks like a bunch of lines and loops._

"What's the hold up?" Derrick asked.

"I can't see it, it's too small you idiot." I said.

"Ciel, would you mind standing next to Clary and reading this." Derrick asked.

"S-Sure." Ciel stuttered, walking over.

"Can you see it?" Derrick asked.

"Yes, it's perfectly readable." Ciel answered.

_W-What?!_

"See, I told you, you _do_ need medical attention. Well at least for your eyes." Derrick said walking over with the paper.

"Hmph!" I replied snatching the paper.

'_You're really stupid you know?'_ Was written on the paper that I crumpled in anger.

"Was that really necessary?" I said through gritted teeth.

"Well what other way was there to convince you?" Derrick sighed.

"It's nothing to be upset about, you can still see right?" Sebastian said in an effort to cheer me up.

"I guess, none the less, we need someone to take a look at Pluto." I said.

"Try not to forget that Pluto isn't exactly 'human' so I only know of one person who can take a look at him." Ciel said.

"Are you sure that, _he_ should be contacted?" Sebastian asked.

"We don't have much of a choice." Ciel said.

|/|

"The Undertaker?" I read aloud as we stood outside a shady shop.

"Try to stay quiet, and don't draw too much attention, so practically try to be non-existent." Ciel instructed.

"No problem." Derrick replied.

"O-Okay." I said walking to the door.

"Maybe you should let us go first." Sebastian said catching my wrist.

I looked at him dumbfounded but returned to Derrick's side and waited for them to come back out. A moment later there was a shockingly loud abundance of laughing coming from the shop and Ciel opened the door, his face unpleasant looking.

"Should I ask what happened?" I whispered.

"No." Ciel answered plain and simply.

"You cease to entertain me, Earl-Oh wait who's this?" A voice said.

"Oh crap." Ciel muttered.

"Who's that?" I asked looking for the owner of the voice.

A cold hand was placed on my shoulder which made me shiver.

"Derrick, move your hand please." I said.

"What do you mean?" he answered.

"What?" I asked turning over to see a pale hand with moderately long black nails on my shoulder.

Followed by a darkly dressed many with long silver hair and a black hat; his eyes covered by his bangs and a scar running across his face.

"Ciel, sometimes I really wonder what kind of people you interact with." I said my voice wavering.

I quickly moved closer to Ciel in attempt to escape the man's grasp.

"Why you look very lovely, I wouldn't mind making a specially made coffin for you my dear." The man said.

"Coffin?" I said inching away slowly.

"T-That's a kind offer, but I'll have to decline." I stuttered.

"Undertaker, we didn't come for a coffin, we need your help with something." Ciel said.

"What kind of help?" Undertaker asked walking around to face Ciel.

"I'm not so sure he has medical experience do you?" Derrick asked.

"Shh! I'd rather not argue otherwise why would they bring us here?" I whispered back.

"You have a point." Derrick replied.

"I guess I can take a look at him, but I don't want to be paid in a laugh this time." Undertaker said his smile widening.

"What do you want then?" Ciel asked.

"Well, as you know I don't find any purpose in the Queen's coins either, so I want to know more about her." Undertaker said.

"Her? The Queen?" Ciel asked.

"No, I'm talking about your new 'company'" Undertaker said once more.

"Also on the one who is blending in with the shadows over there, such a shady character." he continued

"You mean Clary and Derrick?" Ciel asked in surprise.

"Well at least I got names now, you don't seem as bright as you usually do today Earl." Undertaker teased.

"W-Well it was a very unexpected offer." Ciel stuttered.

"Fine, we accept your offer, will you help us?" I cut in.

"Clary?" Ciel gasped.

"Oh this is interesting." Undertaker said.

"Aren't you going to talk it over with your little friend?" he asked.

"No, he's fine with it, right Derrick?" I asked.

"Certainly." he replied.

"Shall we go?" Undertaker asked grabbing my hand.

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**Thanks for reading I love you all! Review! I need ideas pleeeeaaasseee or at least some "nice story, love it, good job, keep going." Or something to keep my inspiration going. *sigh* Also if anyone has a problem/question just PM me it isn't not a bother if anything I'd feel like a bother replying to you guys. I've gotten some PM's about guilds, I think? I'm still a newbie and have no idea whatsoever so if anyone wants to fill me in on that subject, that would be much appreciated. I noticed that there are a couple of mistakes regarding the "~*~*~" if anyone can see that they are missing or something please tell me thanks.**

**-KurohNeko69**

**Special thanks to:**

**JaneAusten13**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Psssst I have a private messaging thingy. If you wanna harass me go ahead. If you don't have an account then harass me through the review/comments cause I know some of you want faster chapters.**

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**Ch.16**

"So you want me to look at a sick servant of yours, Earl?" Undertaker asked, walking inside the manor.

"I'm pretty sure I made that clear on the way over here." Ciel snapped back.

"Is he dead, or on the verge of death?" Undertaker continued, anticipating the answer.

"I'm more than sure that he is, alive, and, well?" Ciel hesitated.

"Don't say that of course he's alive you idiot!" I exclaimed hitting the top of his head lightly but firmly.

"Khehehe, quite the energetic one we've got here." Undertaker addressed, an eerie glow shown from behind his silver locks of hair hiding his eyes.

"I wouldn't—" Derrick started, "She can be just a _bit_ angered quite instantly."

I shot the three of them a cold glare and headed for the study. Quite frankly, I had no time to waste on the likes of them.

"Clarissa, do you not wish to attend to the matter yourself?" Sebastian asked, at least he had the courtesy to speak so proper, then again I shouldn't be the one talking.

"Maybe later, I have a lot on my mind at the moment." I stammered.

"Are you sure? I thought you wanted to see Pluto." Derrick asked.

"I'm positive, would you mind coming with me?" I asked.

"W-Well I wanted to go along with the rest so—" Derrick began.

"Good, it seems as though you have no objections, come on." I finished walking towards the other hall.

"Geez." Derrick complained from behind.

"Oh, so now you want to complain?" I asked.

"You're a real pain." Derrick sighed.

"Excuse me?" I asked, emphasizing my tone.

"You made such a big deal out of this and you aren't even going to check up on him?" Derrick continued.

"Well, like I said before, I have a lot on my mind, I can't think straight right now." I explained.

"That doesn't seem like a good excuse, let's go." Derrick said grabbing my wrist.

"No, leave me alone I have to think this through." I snapped pulling my wrist away.

"Think about what? What could possibly have you in this attitude?" Derrick stressed.

"First, Undertaker, is that even his name? He runs a funeral parlor, why would he of all people help us, and to what advantage or knowledge does he know about this. I know we can't get an actual doctor for specific reasons but why him. He gives off and ominous feeling. It might just be me, but I don't feel like we should trust him. Also, he wants to know about us, isn't that the slightest bit unusual?" I stated.

"Well it was your fault for agreeing to it. I'm sure Ciel had some sort of plan to have Undertaker come anyways. You shouldn't have acted on your own accord, now we have to be extra cautious of the information we give out." Derrick countered.

"Okay I get it I made a mistake, again." I apologized slightly.

"What? Is this your way of saying sorry?" Derrick asked in amusement.

"Fine, let's go I've had enough of your pity." I sighed.

"Oh I wouldn't call it pity, more like—"

"Enough." I interjected.

|/|

"A coma? Was it really that bad?" Ciel asked.

"Well considering, with the information you've given me, the blast must have taken quite the effect on him. It doesn't look too serious; I'd say that he should wake up in a day or so." Undertaker explained.

"Thank you for your service, Undertaker." Sebastian said flatly.

"But~ If I doesn't work out so nicely I'd be happy to create the utmost lovely coffin for him." Undertaker chided.

"Thanks but no thanks." Ciel uttered.

"Oh Earl, you don't have to take my jokes so seriously." Undertaker professed.

"Your 'jokes' seem to be in a convincing tone, you might want to fix that next time." Ciel advised.

"I'll take that into consideration, now then, before I go how about some tea? I can have my form of payment at that time as well." Undertaker began.

"That is, if that little lady would like to join us."

"I'm sure she'd be more than happy to." Ciel lied.

_Crap, how am I supposed to get Clary to have tea with Undertaker? She's pretty pissed off at the moment anyway. _Ciel thought

"Is that so? She seemed upset when we got here; I thought she would at least like to check up on her, _friend?_" Undertaker questioned.

"Friend seems like an appropriate term in her relationship with Plu- erm, one of my servants." Ciel responded.

"Shall we go then?" Sebastian asked.

"I guess Derrick wasn't coming after all." Ciel said lightly.

"Now that I think about it, he did say something about coming back." Sebastian replied.

"Should we wait then?" Undertaker asked.

"No, we can discuss this later." Ciel finished, moving toward the door.

Sebastian quietly followed, along with Undertaker. Ciel reached to turn the knob of the door but to his surprised, the door in turn jolted open. Ciel jumped in surprise only to find the familiar faces of his accomplices standing in the hall.

|/|

"Where were you headed?" Derrick asked.

"Where was I headed? What the hell were you thinking opening the door before knocking, a little, 'Hey I'm coming in.' would've been a nice heads up." Ciel said sucking in his breath

"Sorry about that." I began.

"W-Well it was more of Derrick's fault anyway." I pouted lightly.

"_My _fault?" Derrick questioned.

"Yes, you idiot." I responded in a flat tone.

"Fine, anyway, how's Pluto?" Derrick asked.

"He's going to be alright it isn't anything serious." Sebastian answered.

"I want to see him." I said pushing my way through, Derrick following close behind.

Pluto was lying in the same position he had been the first time I'd seen him in before. His breathing wasn't as heavy either. I placed my hand lightly over his forehead, it wasn't as warm either.

"Thank goodness." I sighed in relief.

"Are we done here?" Derrick asked.

"If you are, then we will be having tea in the dining room. Care to join us?" Ciel said.

"Certainly." Derrick answered.

"I guess so." I said lightly.

"Great, I'm looking forward to be better acquainted with you two." Undertaker grinned.

"Well, let's get going." Ciel urged.

The halls were brightly lit, unlike the time before. It was a lot easier to maneuver through; it had a nostalgic feeling to it. Sebastian was right at Ciel's side like always, and Undertaker strode right behind the two. Derrick walked slightly ahead; it was only expected of him either way.

The dining room was neatly decorated with vases of all different sizes, shapes, and colors. Each vase had all sorts of beautifully arranged flowers. The walls were a dark, wood furnishing with elaborately embellished gold designs. A long table that seated 8 was in the center of the sapphire-blue carpet; that too had intricate embroidery. The chairs matched the carpet's coloring and looked as if they had been polished none too long ago. Ciel hardly has acquaintances, let alone guests so I never expected the dining room to look as grand as it had.

"Please, make yourself comfortable. I will be back with the tea and snacks." Sebastian began.

"Derrick would you mind?" he finished.

"No not at all." Derrick replied.

"O-Oh, Do you need help?" I asked.

"No it's fine. Thank you for your offer though." Sebastian murmured.

"I see you are one to help?" Undertaker asked as I took a seat across from him.

Ciel was seated at the head of the table, with Undertaker to his left, and me on his right.

"In any way I can I suppose, although I don't seem to be of much help." I let out an uneasy chuckle.

"So what relations do you have with the Earl?" Undertaker questioned.

"W-Well it's hard to say, I guess we are just working together." I answered.

"That was a bit vague, to explain in more detail, Clary is working as the Queen's Guard…Pup." Ciel interjected.

"Pup?" Undertaker burst out in a fit of laughter that lasted only mere seconds.

"_Pup?_" I repeated in a dangerously angered tone.

"Putting it bluntly that was the best I could think of." Ciel let out a slight laugh.

"I guess it can't be helped, her actions do mirror those of a reckless pup." Derrick said walking in with a cart filled with all kinds of pastries.

On the very top of the cart was the tea kettle and 3 teacups. Each of which was a pale ivory with white and red roses carefully painted on them. The rims of the saucer and handle of the cups were a stunning gold color. Sebastian followed close behind and began to pour the tea. It gave off a light scent. Not too overpowering, but sort of 'floral' scent the color was a golden-hazel, the way it flowed into the cup was graceful as well.

"This scent seems familiar, what is it?" Ciel asked when a cup was placed by him.

"I think it is Darjeeling, judging by its scent and color." I said softly.

"You have a good eye and sense of smell, yes it is actually." Sebastian said placing a cup next to me.

"Well, it was just a guess." I replied.

"Speaking of 'eyes' we still need for you to be examined." Derrick cut-in.

"Hm? Did something happen?" Undertaker asked.

"Oh, nothing, it's just that during the calamity that went on some debris blurred my vision a bit. Other than that I'm fine." I explained.

"That's no good at all, you see, your eyes are more important than you think." Undertaker whispered leaning closer and closer over the table.

_But his hair is blocking his eyes, so isn't that a bit—_

Undertaker moved back into his seat swiftly, exposing his eyes for just a split second. In my advantage for sitting so close, I was able to see his eyes as clear as the light of day. Even for a brief moment, piercing green and yellow eyes stared intently on mine.

"I suppose so." I managed to get out.

"What would you like, scones, or a slice of Rhubarb pie?" Derrick asked, averting me from my thoughts.

"Huh, oh, neither. Thank you though." I quickly replied.

"What about you?" Derrick asked Undertaker who respectfully declined.

"Take a seat; I'd like to speak with you both." Undertaker chided.

Derrick sat down in the seat next to me and Sebastian stayed at Ciel's side. Not surprising me at all, he was eating a slice of pie and sipping at his cup. Giving no regard to our presence.

"So if you don't mind me asking, how did you become well-known and trusted by the Queen?" Undertaker asked.

"I solved, or at least contributed in a case Ciel was working on." I answered.

"I see how did you know the Earl at that time?" Undertaker continued.

"Well, that's a bit complicated—"

"I was helping Clary move to the dorms at Westen. She hit an inconvenience on the way, so I let her stay in one of the guest rooms. Also, you might think why I felt sympathy for someone without a penny to their name, but Clary, no; Clarissa Stonewell here comes from a prestigious family as well. You should probably start off from the beginning when getting to know someone." Ciel cut-in.

"My apologies Mistress, I had no idea of your background." Undertaker apologized with interest filling his words.

"I-It's fine and there really isn't any need to address me so formally." I stammered.

"Now about you." Undertaker began again, focusing his eyes on Derrick.

"To put it simply I am Clary's guardian at least that is what the Queen had assigned me to be. Other than that I am merely her servant." Derrick answered not a single waver in his voice.

"I see, well I think that's it for now. I hope to meet again Miss Clarissa, and your guardian." Undertaker said simply and rose from his seat.

He hadn't taken one sip from his cup. Neither did I but I was caught up in answering his questions. I couldn't afford to slip up. Sebastian led Undertaker out of the room and I quickly followed behind. It was only courteous to do so, but I felt a sort of pull to not let him leave just like that. Derrick and Ciel stayed behind, it was useless to call after them since we had reached the door already. Before Sebastian had shut the door Undertaker mouthed something inaudible. I was able to at least see his lips move while he spoke, but right after a cold smirk spread across his face.

_We'll meet again, soon enough._

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**A/N: Also...Hi. That is all. Hope you liked it please review and point out mistakes ~(*v*)~**

**-KurohNeko69**

**Special Thanks**

**Mom who finally got the wifi to work(yeah explains the late-ness)**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: I apologize if there is any OOC (Out Of Character) ness in this chapter I think I got Bard's character pretty good, maybe, I don't know I feel like I could've done better but at the same time not so much ya know? Well anyway, enjoy!**

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**Ch.17**

_What did he mean by that?_

"Stonewell? Stonewell? Miss Clarissa Stonewell!?"

"Huh?! Oh um-"

"Enough, what's going on with you? You're at the top of the class; you shouldn't be lost in your thoughts!"

"S-Sorry about that." I muttered.

"I guess it can't be helped, just pay attention."

"Yes."

It's been weeks, maybe even more, since I'd last seen Undertaker, Ciel, Sebastian and I returned to Westen, since we came back from the break I haven't focused too much on studies. Not much word has gone around about my new 'status' then again I didn't expect it to anyway. The teachers are giving me a hard time for not paying attention, Ciel doesn't seem to have a hard time, and Sebastian is playing his role as usual as well. Derrick, well I have no information on his whereabouts, who knows? He might not even be on campus. After constant nagging from all three of them, I got my eyesight checked so now I have to wear reading glasses during class. Luckily I don't need to wear them every single moment of the day so that's a plus.

"Oh Clarissa just the person I wanted to see would you mind coming by my office to help me with some students? I also need you to inform Mr. Phantomhive as well." Sebastian asked.

"Sure, Seba-Prof. Michaelis, you wouldn't happen to know where Phantomhive is would you?" I asked.

"Ah yes, he was heading to the auditorium." Sebastian replied softly.

"Thank you very much." I professed.

"I'd be careful." Sebastian quickly whispered and disappeared into the crowd of people.

_I wonder what that was about anyway._

I made my way to the auditorium to see many people swarming around the back entrance. The majority, were the few girls admitted to the school, even with so little quantity, they made a large commotion.

"What's going on over there?" I said to myself and continued to walk towards the building.

Ciel was nowhere in sight, but there were some people moving things in and out of the auditorium. They all seemed to be from the Blue House and Green House; I wonder what they're doing though. Almost being swallowed by the crowd was Ciel carrying a big, dusty, and tattered box.

"Oh the seniors of Blue House are so smart!" One girl shrieked.

"The Green House seniors are so handsome as well!" Another shouted.

"Please do not crowd around the entrance; it can be disastrous if someone were to get hurt." The head of the Green House, Greenhill, exclaimed with an unwavering tone.

The crowd slowly disbanded with sighs of disappointment. In a matter of minutes they were all gone.

"That goes the same for you." Greenhill directed at me.

"O-Oh um I'm looking for Mr. Phantomhive, I heard that I could find him here?" I stuttered.

"I'm a bit busy what is it that you need?" Ciel replied putting down the box he was carrying.

"Prof. Michaelis is asking for you." I said.

"I see, Greenhill, do you mind telling Bluer that I'd gone with Prof. Michaelis?" Ciel asked.

"You'd better not be slacking off. I'll tell him but if he finds out you decided to skip this tasks then it's out of my hands." Greenhill replied, his expression had obviously changed to annoyance.

"I wouldn't worry about that." Ciel smirked lightly.

"So exactly what's going on here?" I asked mainly to Ciel but happened to catch Greenhill's attention.

"Regular tasks for the underclassmen, to be specific, the Prefects' fags are doing some work." Greenhill explained.

"I see, that must be tough. Are you taking part in it too?" I asked.

"Only when it's necessary, not everyone has great strength as I do." Greenhill boasted.

"Of course, well we must be off." Ciel complained dragging me along.

He continued to tug at me when I was falling behind; the whole way there it was silent. Classes were over for the time being, but even so there were many people still in the halls and classrooms. Many stole a glance in our direction but I took little notice of that. Either way did it really matter to them?

"Professor Michaelis? Are you there?" Ciel asked knocking on the door to Sebastian's office.

"Yes, come in I have prepared some work for you two." Sebastian called out.

Ciel opened the door hastily and began looking around behind him before shutting the door.

"Geez, what's your problem?" I asked.

"It's just simple precautions, you should do the same considering your situation, you are drawing in a lot of attention just conversing with me." Ciel expressed.

"Okay?" I replied, he isn't in such a 'good' mood now is he.

"The reason I called you two in here is that there are some strange things happening in an academy located in Brighton. I've received notifications from the Queen and she would like for you to investigate. Although there is one problem." Sebastian began.

"Well what's the problem?" I blurted.

"Maybe I should save that for later." Sebastian smirked lightly.

"None the less, I see no problem in investigating this." Ciel added.

"A bit too hasty to accept, maybe you'd change your mind with the certain details of this case." Sebastian queered.

"You've heard my answer, now I'd like to hear the rest as soon as possible." Ciel continued.

"Now, now, classes are still taking place; it would be quite the scene to see the Earl of Phantomhive skip the rest of his classes now wouldn't it? You just have to be patient, until then I won't say a word." Sebastian teased.

"Tch! Fine, let's go Clary." Ciel growled.

"C-Come on Ciel there isn't any reason to act like that." I stammered.

Ciel stormed out of the room and I followed closely behind.

_Geez, he doesn't have to be so stubborn. It was his fault and he is too easily bothered if he doesn't get his way. I wonder what he meant by not wanting to take up the offer anyway. Why would they give us a task that they knew we would refuse?_

"Hey watch where you're going." Ciel pulled me away from a post I was walking head-first into.

"What's gotten into you? You've been spacing out half the time during classes, not to mention outside of class." Ciel pointed out.

"I've just been thinking, and what does it matter? It isn't like I'm drawing attention to myself, if anything I'm becoming more and more invisible every day." I mumbled.

"It might just be the opposite." Someone from behind said.

Said person placed the spine of a book lightly on the top of my head, but hard enough to startle both Ciel and I.

"Oh, Derrick showed up." Ciel said calmly.

"That didn't hurt at all thanks for asking." I grudged

"About what you were discussing earlier, you should try to pay attention during classes. Although, I don't understand why you avert your thoughts on everyday tasks, a bit simple-minded isn't it?" Derrick teased.

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to be late to class, so if you'd excuse me." I replied hastily.

"You do understand that classes don't start until another 15 minutes right?" Ciel asked.

"Then I'll read to pass the time!" I yelled back.

_Those damn assholes!_

The ride back was uncomfortably quiet, though it was my fault for not replying to any of the attempted conversations that either Derrick or Ciel wanted to discuss. Though I could see the anxiousness in his eyes, even the slightest bit of tension in his movements, he wanted to know what the Queen's orders were, and he wasn't going to waste time any longer.

"Well, go on." Ciel said impatiently as I walked into the manor.

Ciel stormed up to his study quickening his pace each step.

"I've never seen the young master so beaming before." Finny gleamed.

"He must be expecting some good news I guess." Derrick shrugged.

"It might just be the opposite." Sebastian included, grinning coldly.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, my voice wavering.

"It won't take too long to find out, though the letter was shockingly vague, so we don't know all the details. I think it's the perfect amount of information on my part." Sebastian continued, walking steadily towards the door.

"If it were vague, then how would you know enough information to provoke Ciel?" I asked.

"Trust me you don't need much to provoke Shorty." Derrick joked.

"Well considering the way you address him I guess it's a bit too easy for you to get on his nerves." I muttered walking into the study.

"I don't see anything out of the ordinary that would cause me to reject this request." Ciel stated, his facial expression was a mixture of apathy but had a tinge of annoyance.

"What is it?" Derrick asked taking the paper and holding it close to his face.

"Hey! I could've just told you!" Ciel roared.

"Derrick can you just get along for once?" I sighed.

"Fine, but it seems a bit too simple, what was the big deal of this anyway? Other than the countless victims but other than that I see no significance." Derrick pestered.

"So what exactly are we dealing with? I just want an answer so that I can start working on the solution already." I said.

"An academy down in Brighton, there has been several cases involving missing children, and young adults. All of which no bodies but one were found, the problem is this body was brutally mutilated to the point where it is unrecognizable." Ciel began.

"These acts have gone on for 2 months, because of the lack of information on cases; it was pushed aside for the time being, though the people of Brighton take caution. Now that we have our orders when can we start?" Ciel finished.

"No later than the day after tomorrow, I will notify the school and your fiancée of your departure." Sebastian confirmed.

"For the time being what do we do?" I asked.

"Whatever we can do, gather as much knowledge we can, and by we, I mean you." Ciel smirked.

"Why me? You have as much authority and responsibility to take action as well." I whined.

"I have paperwork to handle, last time I checked you have no idea whatsoever how to compile them the way _I_ prefer." Ciel snickered.

"Fine, if any of you need me I'll be in the library, maybe I should ask the locals as well. At least they will be of some help." I replied my tone strong and firm but my actions faltering each step I took.

"Good luck with that, try not to give away your identity, that's one thing I wish to avoid." Ciel explained.

"I won't I can actually behave like a good pup." I teased.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ciel questioned.

"Don't worry your little head over it, it's nothing. A meaningless reply is all." I continued my way out the door.

"Ah Clary!" Finny yelled from behind.

_Not exactly who I'd want to see but then again, who _would_ I want to see?_

"Good afternoon Finny." I replied turning around to face him.

"Where are you heading?" Finny asked with a big and bright smile.

"…May I ask, should you really be inside with, dirt covering most of you?" I stated, the boy in front of me looked confused until he stared down at his shirt stained with trails of dirt and grass.

"It's fine, I didn't cause quite a ruckus anyhow. Thank goodness you finally agreed to see a doctor, I'm glad all you needed were a pair of glasses, but you're so stubborn it could've been worse." Finny stressed.

"I suppose so, and to answer your previous question, I'm on my way to the library, I've got to do some research." I pouted.

"Aw, that doesn't seem fun at all! Come on how about we go do something else!" Finny whined.

"U-Uh I'm not sure Ciel would like that." I stammered.

"You haven't even met the rest of the Phantomhive family yet." Finny persisted.

"'Phantomhive family'?" I questioned.

"The rest of the servants here silly come on let's go!" Finny ranted and dashed off with my wrist in his hand.

_Dear god Ciel will have my head if he finds out about this._

Not a moment too soon Finny stopped in front of the kitchen where a loud sound came from.

"A-Are you sure about this? I mean it sounds a bit dangerous." I asked.

"It's alright, Bard always works like this." Finny grinned.

Once the door opened a puff of black smoke entered the hallway and a figure was barely visible.

"Are you—positive this is—okay?" I asked choking on some of the smoke.

_It smells of something burning, not meat, at least I think. What the hell is this anyway? What kind of job would anyone have to set a kitchen on fire?_

"It's fine, you'll get used to it." Finny replied, he seemed entirely unaffected by the smoke.

"Damn this! Why does it always end up like this? Now Mr. Sebastian is going to yell at me again." I heard a voice complain from within the black cloud.

"Are you okay?" I asked choking a bit.

"Huh? Yea, just a bit, charred." The voice replied.

Slowly the smoke drifted off and revealed a tall man wearing a white, well not so white anymore coat. I couldn't tell if his hair was naturally that puffy and, big, but that's his first appearance so far.

"Aren't you a surprise? I haven't seen you since you first came to the manor! Even though we weren't that far to begin with but I guess we never crossed paths at the time, the name's Bard, nice to properly meet ya." Bard smiled genuinely.

"So you were one of the people that I'd seen the first night huh? Thank you for your help by the way I really appreciate it." I smiled back.

"There is no need to thank me Clary." Bard began.

"Oh yea, Finny over here never stops talkin' bout you so I kind of have an idea of what you're like." he finished.

"I see, well I hope you got a good image of what I'm like I look forward to get better acquainted with you." I stated.

"I don't usually look like this by the way you see I just thought that if I cooked the food like this it would be faster and it ended up backfiring…again." Bard sighed.

"I can tell you don't have the best of luck, well I have something to do for right now so I guess I'll see you later." I brushed some smoke off my face and turned to the door.

_I was able to kill some time but now I'm not sure if it was a good thing. Yeah I did get out of doing work, but, I kind of have to do that work. Well it shouldn't take that long if I choose the right information I should have an idea in no time._

I opened the library door to be greeted by the familiar fur ball; he seemed to enjoy staying in the library even if I wasn't with him. At least he didn't cause any trouble; I grabbed a stool and brought down some books from the shelves.

"They said that it was supposed to be an academy in Brighton right? Well that narrows it down, to like, 60 different locations." I muttered to myself.

"I know I'm exaggerating a bit but, this is too little information." I mumbled on.

_Think, think of where these took place, think of where it could be, open your mind a bit, imagine, think, think! Okay, most of the kidnappings took place around this area…so that would mean that it would most likely be—_

"No." I gazed in awe at the book I was too shocked to believe the information in my hands.

"No it can't be. This is too, well it would explain but, I highly doubt this is the place!"

_But this would explain Sebastian's teasing, it would explain his doubt that Ciel would take up this offer, I still can't believe this though. Does Sebastian know about this? Of course he does, why else would he say that to Ciel, but why would he hide it._

_Sebastian, you really are a demon, but I have to say, this is the best plan you've ever thought of._

"This academy, is an 'All _Girls_ School'"

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**A/N: Yea! Test week is coming up! *sobs quietly* Wish me luck on that situation and PM me comment anything if you have questions reccomendations(stories, a way to grasp the character better etc.) And for god's sake harass me to do what you want okay? If you want me to update faster I don't care if you're mean to me! If anything it will make me get off my lazy butt and do something. Enjoy and review!**

｡◕ ‿ ◕｡ **-KurohNeko69**


	18. Chapter 18

**Ta-da! I am alive everyone! Ah~ Well a lot happened so I apologize in advance, but if you wanna know what happened I'll add it at the end, so stick around if you want, but anyway here's the chapter again sorry ehe.**

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**Chp.18**

"I wonder if I should tell him about this. After all, he didn't seem too worried about getting information on the place we are going. Maybe Sebastian has a reason for hiding this from us, whatever that reason was; I think I can relate to it. This is going to be fun." I swung Gynx around the room just thinking of all the outcomes.

"So now what am I supposed to do? We still have a day before we get started on the case, what if Ciel finds out eventually? Knowing him he will reject the whole thing." I conversed to myself.

_The letter is very suspicious considering it didn't include vital information such as…__**that**__ but maybe it was altered. Would the Queen really send a letter like that?_

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."

I walked over to set down Gynx and continue to read the history of the Academy. It seemed very secluded, women and young girls were able to attend whether it range from regular knowledgeable tasks, to companies and house-work classes.

_This really does draw the line between the abilities of men and women, sure we can't do as much as men, but we can sure as hell succeed and possibly free ourselves to more choices._

"Well there isn't that much information left for me to go on, maybe it's time I head out."

I replaced the books to their original location and headed for the rooms, Mey-Rin had gotten me more, 'common' clothing so that I could blend in with others in the town. Even if they were for going out undercover, I usually wore them whilst in the manor. A simple beige, short-sleeved dress would be just fine, but under my circumstances I used a scarf, and a 'pageboy' hat. It might make me stand out more, but it did let me gain more resources.

One of those resources include helping out a newspaper salesman sell more of his merchandise, to my advantage I was able to keep up with recent events through those newspapers. I got my things and went out the back door, naturally Gynx hid inside the pocket of my coat. It had been what, a month? And Gynx's appearance had drastically changed. His once piercing green eyes had turned to a cold gray, from time to time shades of green lit up his icy expression, but in my opinion it suited him a lot better. If anything Sebastian was still obsessed with him no matter what. His black coat was longer now and glossier when light hit it, at night the darkness took hold of him and all you would be able to see was his muggy eyes.

"Hey, where are you going?" a voice called from behind, was almost at the gate too.

"What is it now?" I sighed heavily and turned to look, what a pleasant surprise to see my good for nothing servant, Kidding, if anything we are both a pain, and a life raft.

"Just simple precautions, don't you think you should take your glasses?" Derrick asked.

"I don't particularly need them, why?" I replied.

"If you say so, anyhow, Shorty over there told me to go with you, so here I am. Personally I'd rather take a nap." Derrick yawned rubbing his eye. He wasn't wearing any sort of gloves, the Mark stood out shockingly against his pale skin.

"Sure, but you should go get some gloves or a _really_ long coat to cover your hands," I strained.

"No need, I'll just keep my hands in my pockets, it's not like you'd be stupid enough to get yourself in trouble right?" Derrick smirked.

His hair looked much lighter than it had before; the brownish-golden color had regained its definition in the sunlight. Although, his skin was still pale and looked, cold. He wore his uniform like usual, it surprised me that he still hadn't changed, he didn't like to show up to his classes to begin with anyway.

"Something wrong? You've been staring intently at me for the past couple minutes, I don't suppose you might actually have feeli—" Derrick began; it didn't take long for me to realize what he was going to say.

"T-Th-That's wrong! No I certainly don't what are you thinking!? Geez! Come on I don't want to speak any more of this nonsense!" I stammered and stormed through the gate, Derrick followed behind laughing like a mad man.

"Could you stop?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"I just find it hilarious about the way you reacted! I did not expect that if anything I thought you would have slapped me or something, that would make more sense. You should see yourself you're as read as a tomato!" Derrick continued to laugh.

"Shut up already god!" I screamed and stopped in my tracks.

"Look it might have just been a joke, but I had, I _have_ no idea how to react to things like that. If you didn't already know, I don't socialize that much, so how did you think I'd reply. I don't see anything funny about that because it, to me wasn't at all funny." I finished.

"So it's Ciel huh? Well I would've guessed you two do get along." Derrick murmured.

"Wha—" I began but silence was all that came out.

Those words were like a curse, a curse that silenced anything that came out of my throat, or at least tried to escape.

_Ciel? What does he have anything to do with this? Why did Derrick even bring that up? Ciel is engaged, he has a fiancée, Elizabeth. W-Why would Derrick even dare say that, what do I say? This conversation, these questions are all too sudden, how do I do this. How do I get myself out of this situation, how? __**How?**_

"I—"

Derrick stared intently, even as I dropped my head, my eyes were locked on the floor, I felt his gaze study my movements, my fists clenched, but they shook. They shook so vigorously I could've sworn they had fallen off. The weight of his gaze lessened, and his presence had disappeared. I didn't have the effort to look up, but I felt his cold hands on my shoulders, this time they weren't cold. They were warm and inviting, tears threatened my eyes but why would I cry?

_I'm not going to cry; crying is all I know how to do. I have no idea how to respond, but crying won't help._

"Sorry, I crossed the line." Derrick whispered.

"…No, no I— I, I don't have feelings for Ciel other than respect, and, trust. As for you, I'm conflicted. These feelings, feelings of hatred, annoyance, envy, no not envy, but every negative feeling that I shouldn't feel towards you especially. After all, I _should_ feel trust in you, and I do, but very little, I should feel safety, and security, but it seems like I have only little faith in that. I don't know, everything is jumbled up." I mumbled words spilling over each other each time I opened my mouth.

"I see." Derrick replied coldly.

_No, that tone, his voice it seems strange. It's not how I want him to reply, I, did I hurt his feelings?_

"Derrick, I, you know I don't mean it in a way to hurt anyone. Like I said before, it's all so confusing. I don't, nor do I intend to hurt you in any sort of way. So I'm sorry if it came out sounding wrong or—" I began but a cold breeze shut out all sounds, chills ran down my spine and Derrick came closer.

Each second he moved slower, and slower, his movements were smooth and swift. He held out both arms and grabbed my shoulders. Softly he spoke,

"It's fine, I don't really understand what you mean, but if you don't either then what's there to believe?" Derrick released his grip and walked to the gate.

He sounded, hurt, lost, it was indescribable, but at the same time it was cold, his voice was hollow.

_Was the sky this gray?_

The clouds moved at a stunningly slow pace, it was as if they'd been frozen there, gloomily looking down at the ground. The sight was depressing, lonely, it seemed to me that my emotions, Derrick's emotions, were pinned to the sky for everyone to see overhead.

"Come on let's get this over with." Derrick's voice echoed.

_Wait, what were we doing?_

"No." My voice seemed alien to me, I couldn't recognize it as my own.

"What? Don't you have things to get by tomorrow?" Derrick asked.

"No, I'm going alone, just as I had planned to in the first place." Was this really me, was _I _actually speaking?

"Fine," Derrick sighed deeply.

"If you get into trouble you know what to do."

"I can't just keep relying on you!" My voice echoed around, the atmosphere was strained and the silence was cold.

It was unbearable to stand there, waiting for something to happen, waiting for something, someone to solve the problem at hand. I knew that if I'd wait any longer I'd end up back at square one, always hearing empty apologies, filling up with regret and rage.

"I've been able to do nothing without some sort of help; I know I can do something on my own. How far have I come already?" Tears threatened the back of my eyes, but what was it worth?

"These arguments are futile, and frankly I don't think either one of us have time to waste. If you'd like to tag along go ahead, but don't get in my way." I replied coldly.

_No that wasn't what I wanted, why can I never speak my mind when it comes to Derrick. I have things well thought out, worded perfectly. Why can't I ever say them when the time is right?_

The dismal atmosphere snapped.

"Alright then, let's go." Derrick chuckled lightly holding a hand to cup his mouth from further noises.

|\|

"Don't you have any other type of information on this case?" Ciel asked shuffling through papers.

"I'm not familiar with anything other than the information we already have, but, if it's any consolation Clarissa is on her way to gather more information." Sebastian replied.

"Maybe I should do some of my own research; after all we don't have much to go on from what we have." Ciel sighed.

Ciel sat up rumbling thoughts through his head. Just as he left the room a sudden noise echoed through the manor, it was faint, but painfully intolerable. A sort of static or ringing noise; It was almost impossible to trace where it had come from but whatever the case, he had to stop it. Given the circumstances, he would have asked Sebastian to locate it, for of course he would have it under control in no time.

"Geez, what's with this blasted noise?" Ciel grumbled to himself as the sound kept echoing.

He kept walking through the manor but the sound grew softer and softer.

"Tch! I guess it's the other way."

Ciel stormed in the opposite direction, his nose began to itch and his throat the same. Not too long he was sneezing every two minutes and sniffing in between breaths.

"Great just what I needed." Ciel sniffled staring at the pair of grey eyes staring back at him.

"I thought she'd gotten rid of you." Ciel said to the feline who was rattling its ears.

"Ah, do you hear that nuisance of a noise as well?" Ciel asked, kneeling down cautiously.

_Am I seriously talking to a cat? Well considering their heightened sense of hearing, maybe it could be of use. Now what was its name again? G…Gordon?_

"Listen here, cat, if you prove yourself worthy of staying in my manor then lead me to that noise." Ciel stated.

"It's coming from the kitchen in the south dining hall; Says Wordsworth." A faint reply echoed.

"Huh, Snake? That's peculiar; you don't normally wander about at this time of day." Ciel remarked brushing off his pants and stepping away from the feline.

"Are you going to leave Clarissa's pet there? Says Wordsworth." Snake replied as he gradually came closer.

"I have no time to deal with mongrels." Ciel seethed.

"In fact," he continued,

"That _thing_ shouldn't be here, I know I made that exception, but she's going to have to uphold her end of the line as well." Ciel muttered as he walked off with the guidance of his footman.

_Oh god it smells horrible down here did someone die? The air is stuffy and thick with a smoke like substance. What the hell is going on?_

A loud crash echoed throughout the hall, along with that the yelps of a familiar maid. Ciel sighed deeply, he already knew that it was Mey-Rin, though, Sebastian was the one who usually dealt with that responsibility, Ciel had encountered a few casualties as well.

"Mey-Rin? What happened this time?" Ciel asked impatiently.

"A-ah! Y-Young Master, you see um, I went to prepare for your evening tea so I grabbed a tea set that we haven't yet used and I kind of tripped on a fold in the carpet and fell." Mey-Rin scrambled frantically.

"It can't be helped, just clean up the mess you made and report back to Sebastian." Ciel sighed again.

_Well that obnoxious noise is gone now; it still doesn't change the fact that the atmosphere was heavily damaged by something._

"B-Bard?! What the bloody hell did you do?" Ciel exclaimed as he peered into the kitchen.

The walls had been charred in several places, the tables were covered in ashes, and there stood the person responsible. Bardroy, his hair had been poofed up to the T.

"What do you have say for yourself?" Ciel growled clenching his teeth.

"Y-Young Master it's a surprise to see you down here…" Bard chuckled nervously.

"W-Well s' long as it wasn't Mister Sebastian, if it were he'd 'ave my head." he continued.

"What was that?" Sebastian grinned maliciously as he entered the room.

"Mind explaining the situation in advance?" he asked.

"U-Uh w-well you see-" Bard had started.

Frankly enough Ciel didn't need any other information on the subject and let himself out. It wasn't his job to discipline his servants anyhow. He had other things on his mind.

|/|

The atmosphere between Derrick and I had slowly dissipated to a thin, uncomfortable feeling. Whatever the case I need information on these disappearances. Not many people looked like the kind who'd have any information on the subject. After all this little town wasn't at its peak of wealth. Not to be of any offense but I highly doubt any daughter living within this town would have any chance getting into that prestigious school. Not many women had a chance at an education either way.

"Don't you think we'd have a better chance elsewhere?" Derrick asked, his hair glistening in the evening sun.

_Wait why am I thinking of how his hair looks right now?_

"Yeah I agree is there any other, wealthier, town we could visit?" I whispered.

"Sure, [insert title here] is only a few minutes away." Derrick replied.

"Let's check there then, wait, shouldn't we tell Ciel and Sebastian that we won't be in this area?" I asked hesitantly.

"No need, it isn't that far anyway." Derrick smiled shyly.

Walking through the streets a group started to slowly form around a couple. It was hard to see considering the amount of people surrounding them. With the commotion starting only sounds of the bystanders were heard.

"Do you think we should check it out?" I asked tugging on Derrick's shirt.

"Why not, might as well pick up on something that doesn't apply to our mission at all further distracting us from our original path. Let's go!" Derrick exclaimed, his every word filled with utmost sarcasm.

"I'm going on ahead thanks!" I rejoiced, surely it would tick him off.

_Wow it's a lot louder over here. Oh I see something!_

A woman dressed to the high nines was doubled over shrieking and crying. Every time she took a breath sounded like gasping for her last breath of air. A man knelt over her trying to get her up but each time failing. She lashed out but gave in to her emotions; whatever was going on wasn't good. The crowd only got bigger and harder for me to see any more than that. Trying to push myself through I ended up on the floor squeezing myself through people's legs. A few causalities like being stepped on but nothing more. No matter what I had to see what was going on.

_Damn! I can't see a thing, should I just trip them? No I can't do that what am I thinking?_

I crawled my way through enough to see that she held a paper, a newspaper, the ink had smeared everywhere because of water?

_No, they're tears._

"All I need is a newspaper and that's it-Ow!" I exclaimed, dragging myself out of the crowd.

_Shit._

My skirt had gotten caught on something. Wriggling as much as I could it would break its hold.

"Damnit." I muttered turning to pull the thing free.

The collar of my blouse was tugged on vigorously and I was hoisted up onto my feet.

"Ah thanks Derrick." I said turning around to face him.

"My, what a surprise to see you here it seems as though you've made quite a few friends." A man said.

"How long has it been?" he continued.

"You've grown so much, it's a shame that it'll go to waste. If only that day had gone as planned, this wouldn't have been so troublesome."

"Clary! Where'd you go?!" Derrick hollered.

"It seems this is my time to depart. I bid you farewell."

"Who was that?" Derrick asked shaking my lightly.

"I don't know."

_Just who was that…_

* * *

**Just for further reference I'm about 1,000 words in the next chapter so it'll be up in no time.**

**|\|**

**For the reason I was gone it's been about 2 months no? Probably more ah my deepest apologies, well my "new" laptop suddenly crashed like the whore it is, so I took it to best buy, many weeks without a word. I got a bad fever due to stress (I don't even really know I wasn't that stressed other than a couple last minute placement tests), 102 degrees for 3 days straight and then 5 more with a mild fever and throat infection. My parents got my laptop but never told me about it because I use it like everyday. They like to torture me for it (no not really I guess they thought it was for the better) So once I got healthy I unlock my laptop and behold! All my documents were gone :))) Yeah, it was hectic, but what matters is I'm back now, it's summer break, faster chapters, and more time to work. Thanks for all your support and hopefully I captured Bard's character this time? Well I'll try my best, also, sneak peak at why I made it an all girls school without Ciel knowing.**

***Whisper* I just wanted to make him crossdress because I have the power ;)**

**See you guys soon! Any questions just ask me, if you don't have an account then comment.**


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